The College Challenge
by Lake Blue1
Summary: Herbert is sentenced to 3 years of community service in Club Penguin, which he is NOT pleased about. The only way to get out of it is going to college... Which is what he plans to do. Herbert tackles his adventures in Harfish University, while in Club Penguin, our three EPF agents tackle the challenges that arise when the four leads resign from the EPF.
1. New Recruits

**Hiiiiii! I know, I know, long time no update DX Im sorry! I was originally supposed to post it a while ago, but just wasn't happy with the chapter... So I retyped it! :D **

**But welcome to my new story! I hope you aren't too mad at me for being so late DX **

**Im going to Bronx Science High School in September! :D Im pretty excited, although there's so much homework DX But I'm going to high school! Yaaay! :D**

**But without further ado, I present to you chapter 1! Enjoy! **

* * *

"Summer! Finally!" Loud cries of the like were heard all over Club Penguin. Penguins cheering and whooping and partying because school was over for another 3 months.

But one certain someone was fuming in his room.

That certain someone was a fat polar bear named Herbert.

And this Herbert was not pleased.

"SHUT UP YOU PENGUINS!" He yelled out the window before turning and plopping down on his blue bed, glaring at the walls of his room, which was actually a jail cell. It had surprisingly decent accommodations, with working lights, a simple bedroom, and a small bathroom.

"Watch your language Herbert!" A familiarly annoying voice chirped as she entered the jail segment, with more familiar penguins behind her, and some not so familiar.

Herbert simply scowled at the EPF agents before him. "Don't you ever get tired of saying that?"

Lake Blue shrugged, smiling a little. "Nope. I mean, I use it on my classmates everyday."

"Anyway, we have decided on a punishment for your earlier actions." Gary interrupted, pulling out a few sheets of paper.

"Prisoner Number 1, Herbert P. Bear Esquire, has been will be sentenced to three years of Reparation in the form of Community Service on the Island of Club Penguin for his actions." Gary read out aloud, while Lake Blue passed a copy to Herbert, smiling just a little.

Herbert stepped back, looking at the paper before glaring daggers at the gadget guy. "I will absolutely NOT do community service. They will poke me and laugh at me and make fun of me!"

"Too bad. You have to pay for what you did." Jessie shrugged.

"Plus, you are super fat! Like dude, I have never seen someone so fat before! You seriously, like, need to exercise and eat less!" A loud and obnoxious voice added. Herbert turned to the unfamiliar red penguin, who was smirking slightly.

"And who do you think you are?" Herbert glared, clearly annoyed by the new agent.

"Agent Alfie, new recruit." The red penguin grinned. Herbert rolled his eyes, already disliking this new penguin. He just clearly seemed like the kind that partied every day, like Rookie.

"And that's Agent Gils, also new recruit." Lake Blue gestured to the arctic white penguin next to her, who nodded and smirked in response.

"Why are you recruiting so many new penguins?!" Herbert complained.

"Why not? I'm awesome!" Gils smirked, letting out a short laugh.

"And why are they all so annoying?" Herbert muttered, still glaring at the new agents.

"Alright, so your community service begins in three days, so if there's anything you want to do before-" Gary began, before being interrupted by Herbert.

"Any way I can get out of it?"

"Huh?" Gary stopped, glancing at the polar bear, who looked pretty funny in his orange prison suit, according to Lake Blue, Jessie, and Mewcat.

"Cant I get out of community service?" Herbert asked, slightly hopeful.

"Well, it's like college. You can get out of it by going to college." Mewcat shrugged. "But it's not like you can get into a college anyway."

Herbert narrowed his eyes at the last comment. "Oh yes I can, and I will to prove it." He stood proudly for a second, before walking forward to the cage door... Only to bump into the bars.

"Ow!" Herbert yelped, glaring at everyone.

"What?" Alfie questioned, eyeing him uncertainly, while Lake Blue, Jessie, and Mewcat were trying not to laugh.

"Let me out!" Herbert demanded.

Alfie took a step forward, but was stopped by Jessie, who held him back.

"Why should we? How do we know you're not going to escape?" Mewcat questioned sternly, a slight smile still on her face.

"But I'm going to college! You have to let me out!" Herbert protested.

"Woah woah woah!" Alfie interrupted. "Dude, you don't just go to whatever college you want without notice! You have like interviews and papers and all sorts of stuff!"

"Plus, college only postpones your community service, not eliminate it completely." Gary added.

"But I am going to college, starting next week!" Herbert insisted.

"Oh really? Just which college do you think you're going to when school just ended?" Gils questioned, a slight smirk on his face.

"Uh... Umm... Summer school?" Herbert answered, self-doubt written all over his voice.

The three girls and the new recruits couldn't help but giggle and laugh at his response, while Gary, Jet Pack Guy, and Dot stood emotionless, staring at them.

Lake Blue stopped when she saw the three leads not laughing. "Lighten up, isn't that the funniest response you've received?" She smiled, nudging them.

"No, not really. When you've been here for 20 years you take things pretty seriously." Jet Pack Guy shrugged.

"Aww, but that's no fun!" Alfie whined.

"It's not supposed to be fun." Dot interrupted. "This is pretty serious work. We have the burden of protecting the island from dangerous threats, and-"

"Dangerous threats as in that unawesome guy?" Gils pointed to Herbert, who was still a little confused.

"Psh! Please! That dude can't even make a sound argument!" Alfie added .

"Alright guys, I think that's enough. You are supposed to still respect the leads, okay?" Lake Blue smiled, noticing how Gary was a little tense.

She turned to Herbert. "Alrighty then, we can allow you to apply for colleges and go to interviews, but your service will only be postponed if you go to college."

Herbert nodded. "So... What colleges are there?"

Mewcat sighed. "Well, there's CPU."

"What's that?"

"... Club Penguin University. No duh?" Lake Blue explained.

"Oh. Anything else?" Herbert asked, hoping for a university that wasn't occupied by the agents.

"Hmm... There's-"

"HARFISH AND KALE DUDE!" Alfred yelled, jumping up in excitement. "Like the best colleges EVER!"

"But also the most difficult to get into." Jessie added.

"Then I'm going to Harfish and Kale." Herbert affirmed.

"There's no way you're getting into Harfish." Mewcat scoffed.

"I will. And I'll prove it!" Herbert said stubbornly.

"Suuuuure." Lake Blue shrugged, before a loud crash was heard outside the door.

"What happened now?" Jet Pack Guy sighed, running out the room, the other agents following, leaving Herbert in the room by himself.

"Okay Klutzy, come on out now." Herbert whispered, turning to the window.

"Who are you?" The red crab clicked as it crawled in through the small window.

"I'm Herbert." Herbert replied, "And I need you to get me those applications for Harfish as well as my old report cards. I will get into Harfish!"

"You? Harfish? Not on your life." The crab clicked, rolling it's eyes.

"Whatever." Herbert said, "Now go." He pushed the crab back out the window.

"Who are you?" Klutzy clicked.

"I'm Herbert." Herbert rolled his eyes.

* * *

"I have the paper!" Klutzy clicked, stuffing the papers through the window before jumping down himself.

"Yay!" Herbert cheered, snatching the pile of papers and leafing through his report card.

"Lets see what I got!" He grinned excitedly. "71, 74, 85, 80, 66, and 90. Uh, that's pretty bad. But at least I got 90 in... Homeroom."

"..." Was all Klutzy could say. "You're an idiot. You're never getting into Harfish."

"Hey! That's mean!" Herbert glared, filling in the Harfish application form. "Lets just change my grades to 100..." He proceeded to cross out the numbers and change them all to 100's. "There. Now I'm smart." He sat proudly.

"That doesn't proven anything." Klutzy noted.

"Yes it does. I got all 100's!" He held up a report card with clear scribbles and X's on them.

"I'll fix them later." Klutzy sighed, grabbing the completed forms. "Just be prepared for your interview."

"Wait, there's an INTERVIEW?!" Herbert yelled to the crab, who was now too far away to hear him.

Herbert pondered about this upcoming interview, panicking just ever so slightly. He began to picture the interview in his mind...

* * *

_"Hello Herbert. I see you want to attend Harfish?" A polar bear with a moustache and a tie asked, holding out a chair for Herbert to sit in. _

_"Yes, I am very interested in attending Harfish. I will be a priceless addition to this school." Herbert answered prestigiously. _

_"Very well. I just have a few questions. What is your past? What do you do?" The moustached polar bear questioned, writing down notes. _

_"I have been inventing machines that have contributed greatly to the penguin society I live in. I have been studying these penguins and living among them so much to the point where I know many of these penguins by name, and same goes for them. I even spread my genius and make machines specifically intended for them." Herbert smiled, sitting in a perfect posture. _

_The Harfish polar bear stared in disbelief at Herbert before grinning and cheering, "Congratulations! Welcome to Harfish! You really are an invaluable addition!" _

___"Yaay!' Herbert cheered, hugging the polar bear while grinning from ear to ear._

* * *

"What happened here?!" Gary yelled at the sight before him. Rookie and two new recruits stood in a line, looking guiltily at one another. The main computer screen in the meeting room lay flat on the ground with the chairs around the table in a disheveled mess.

The three agents were silent, glancing at each other.

Lake Blue sighed. "Feli, Rookie, and Tori, what just happened?" She asked, a little softer and calmer.

"I told them it was a bad idea!" Tori blurted out, flapping his yellow flippers in indignation.

"But you had fun! Wasn't it fun?" Feli beamed, looking at Tori.

"I didn't want to break anything!"

"Hold up, guys. What actually happened?" Jessie interrupted, glancing expectantly at the trio.

"Okay, so basically, we were bored. So I decided that we play tag! Isn't tag fun?" Rookie began, cheering up immediately. "And then Feli was it, and he ran around chasing us. Tori was hiding on top of that." He paused to point at a tall closet next to the screen. "I don't know how he got up there, but somehow Feli tripped on a random rubber duckie and crashed into me, and I fell against the closet thingy and it knocked the TV over. So it wasn't our fault! It was the closet's! Bad closet!"

Gary was showing clear signs of frustration, as was Jet Pack Guy and Dot.

"What's wrong? Can't you just replace the TV?" Feli asked tentatively.

"That's the exact point!" Gary yelled, startling the other agents. "Most of our money is spent on silly mistakes like these! How many times have we replaced the main screen because of your silly accidents?! Will you ever learn how to behave properly?! This is a serious job! And I refuse to work with penguins who can't even keep themselves from breaking every single thing they come across! I resign!" Gary yelled as he stomped out the door, grabbing his coat before slamming the door shut behind him.

All the agents stood there, stunned. Gary had almost never blew his top like that before.

"I agree. You just don't seem to take this seriously. Why waste our energy?" Dot eventually said, with Jet Pack Guy giving a confirming nod. They turned swiftly around and headed for the door.

"But wait!" Jessie called. "Who would run the agency?"

"I don't know. The director? If she hasn't resigned by now." Jet Pack Guy called from behind him.

"But she's on a 3 month business trip!" Lake Blue protested.

"Then figure it out yourselves!"

The three girls stood there, exchanging worried glances at each other.

"Huh?! JETTIE! Waaaaiiiiiitt!" Rookie yelled, running out the door to catch up with the other leads, leaving the three agents and the new recruits alone in the vast meeting room.

There was a tense silence as the agents stood there, trying to comprehend everything that just took place.

"Uh, dudes? What do we do now?" Alfie finally asked, looking just a little worried.

Lake Blue shook her head. "I have no idea, but we still have to continue on. I'm guessing the four leads are resigning, so the burden of leading in on us three." She glanced at Jessie and Mewcat, who simply nodded.

"It's definitely going to be more difficult, so I'm really going to need all of you to keep it together." Lake Blue continued, glancing at the new recruits. "Now we have to deal with everything and Herbert at the same time. Think we can handle it?"

"Yeah, we're totally awesome enough to handle this unawesome task!" Gils affirmed, chuckling a little.

"Alright. So first things first-"

"YAAAAAYYYYYYY!" A loud cheer was heard downstairs, interrupting Lake Blue.

"... We go check on Herbert." Mewcat finished, grinning.

"Wait, who's Herbert?" Feli asked as they ran downstairs.

"The weird-looking fat dude, remember?" Alfie reminded him.

"Couldn't have put it in better words myself." Lake Blue giggled.

"I don't know, is he scary?" Tori asked nervously.

"Not really." Jessie laughed as they swung the door open.

"What's going on here?" Lake Blue asked as she glanced at the polar bear with a suspicious look.

"I'm going to Harfish!" Herbert cheered.

"And how exactly? You haven't even gone to the interview yet." Mewcat questioned.

"Mine is next Tuesday. And they won't be able to help but accept me." He sat proudly.

"Haha, yeah sure." Alfie laughed.

Herbert frowned. "I will get into Harfish, and you won't be able to do anything about it."

Alfie was about to say something else, but the stern look from Lake Blue kept him quiet.

"Alright then, we will escort you over, so you don't cause any trouble." Lake Blue explained.

"Huh?" Tori asked, eyeing the polar bear cautiously. Jessie gestured for them to exit the room.

"We're going to escort him?" Jessie asked in disbelief. "But we're already short a few agents and us three are the only ones who are experienced enough to run this place."

"I was thinking this: Mewcat can take two of the new recruits to accompany Herbert to Harfish for his interview, while the two of us run this place and hopefully keep everything in order." Lake Blue explained.

"I guess it could work. I mean, I don't trust Herbert to go by himself." Jessie shrugged.

"Aye..." Lake Blue sighed, "I have a feeling this is going to be a pretty stressful 3 months... But we can do this."

"We can help!" Alfie flailed his flippers and jumped up and down excitedly.

"You can help by listening to your seniors." Mewcat laughed. "Alright, so who's going with me to Harfish?"

"Oh! Me! Memememememememe!" Alfie jumped up, waving his flipper.

They shared a quick giggle before nodding. "Who else?"

"Zhe awesome me will go." Gils declared, moving into a quick pose.

"Haha, Alrighty then. I guess we should go over the basic rules and regulations in this place?" Lake Blue suggested, smiling when the new recruits groaned or pouted.

For both Herbert and the agents, their new adventures were just a matter of time.

* * *

**Yes, I just had to include Hetalia references in it XD It's been my latest obsession O.o **

**So what do you think will happen next now that our leads have resigned? Will the EPF crumble? Or will it tank the blow like a hero? XD **

**For now, this is it for today. I hope you all enjoyed, and until we meet again, I wish you a wonderful day! :D**


	2. Practices

**Hey everyone! Hows life? :D**

**Ive been finding new inspiration for my stories, so I typed Chapter 2 like right after I posted Chapter 1. What do you guys think of the story so far? :)**

**Jessie9095: Riiiiight, I completely forgot about the hero XD**

**BlytheLPSgirl2012: Ooh, maybe I typed the chapter just for you? XD Who knows? And are my stories _that_ cliche? ... Yeah, yeah they are XD But thank you for reading and reviewing! I greatly appreciate it! :D**

**So to recap (Wow, I haven't said that in a while)! Last time we met, Herbert was sentenced to three years of community service. In a desperate attempt to get out of it, he decided to enrol to Harfish... Oh boy. Meanwhile, our four leads got mad and decided to resign, leaving Lake Blue, Jessie, and Mewcat to train the new recruits and run the EPF! Oh no! **

**:D Enjoy the story! **

* * *

Herbert had been counting off the days for his interview. He was both extremely nervous and extremely excited. Klutzy wasn't helping either. All he did was question Herbert's identity, which irked Herbert. The occasional appearance of the new recruits would also annoy him.

His thoughts were once again interrupted by loud giggles and laughs. Looking up, he once again caught a glimpse of the group of new recruits peering cautiously at him from behind the wall.

"Dude, he is so fat." That obnoxious red penguin whispered.

"I think he needs a diet. Like you." An unfamiliar voice retorted.

"Dude, I am NOT fat! At least I don't make terrible inedible food!" Alfie protested.

"I do NOT make terrible food, you wanker!"

Herbert groaned. These guys are going to drive him insane before he even reaches his interview day.

"Oh, but you do. How many times have you called the fire fighters because you set your, what are they called, scones, on fire?" Another unfamiliar voice. Great. How many new penguins did they even recruit?, Herbert thought to himself.

A loud squeak was heard as the door swung open, nearly hitting Alfie in the back. Lake Blue stood at the doorway, peering at the three recruits, then at Herbert, then back at them.

"You know," She began, giving a short laugh. "If you wanted to guard Herbert, then go up ahead and stand in front of the cage. You could hurt yourself if you stand in front of the door like that." She nudged them further into the room. "Go introduce yourselves. As an agent, you'll be seeing him around a lot."

Alfie raised an eyebrow at Herbert, while the green and blue penguins next to him eyed him suspiciously.

"I'm Artie..." The green penguin said cautiously, distrust clear in his voice.

"And I'm Fries." The blue one grinned.

"I'm the evil genius known as Herbert." Herbert finally introduced, plunging the room into awkward silence once again.

Lake Blue chuckled a little before placing her flippers on Artie and Fries's shoulders. "Don't you think you ought to be heading back to your stations? I think the Stealth and Comm sections are missing an agent each." She suggested, nudging them towards the door. "We do have a lot more work to do."

"So, dude, do I like get to play around and do nothing?" Alfie asked hopefully once the other two penguins left.

Lake Blue gave him a serious expression. "No. But you should go find Gils and familiarise yourselves with Herbert. Figure out some ways to deal with him, because you'll probably need it on the trip. Now, I need to go check up on the other stations. I'll see you." She gave him a nod and a wave before turning and exiting the room.

There was another brief period of silence as Alfie also left the room, but minutes later, he burst loudly through the door and screamed, "HEY DUDE!"

Herbert scowled and rubbed his fluffy ears** (XD)**, annoyed at the sudden change in volume.

"SO WHAT'S POPPING DUDE? IS IT FUN BEING IN A CAGE?" Alfie asked cheerfully, although it came out more like a yell for the grumpy polar bear.

"Shut up." Herbert growled in a low voice.

"What's wrong? Is zhe unawesome polar bear being unawesomely grumpy?" Gils smirked, leaning against the wall.

"Don't you know any other adjectives other than 'awesome'?!" Herbert complained.

"My awesome answer is an unawesome no."

"So dude! What's it like being in jail? Is it cool?" Alfie asked excitedly, trying to stir up a conversation.

But all Herbert did was growl in annoyance. "No, of course it's not cool, you idiot. Now could you just shut up?!" He spat.

"Now now, what did Lake Blue say? Watch your unawesome language." Gils smirked as he reminded him.

Herbert sighed. Yep, this isn't going to end well for him.

* * *

"So are we like the awesome fighting group or something else awesome?" Gils voice echoed in the large room.

"No, we are in the tactical group." One of the other recruits answered.

"So?"

"Tactical is basically coming up with the best strategies to achieve success. Planning out strategies and steps, predicting obstacles, the like." Another recruit explained.

"What Yang and Luden said basically sums it up." A brown penguin said as she stepped into the room. "I'm Moonhunter, temporary Tactical Lead." She introduced with a small nod.

"I'm zhe awesome Gils." Gils proudly stated.

"I know." Moonhunter shrugged. "So are you ready for a few practices? Tactics come with practice, so there's not much to explain. Lake Blue also specializes in this field, but she's busy with the Comm group. She has like an entire list of every single thing to remember in Tac, but I'm too lazy for that. So lets just go!"

She pulls out a few sheets of paper and lays them out on the small desk. "So here's the scenario. You are trying to get into this building." She points to a rectangle on the map in front of her. "But there are guards here, here, here, and here." She points to different parts of the map. "And they're all incredibly overpowered, so knocking all of them out isn't an option. So what do you do?"

"I'll just blow all of those unawesome guards away with my awesomeness!" Gils declared proudly. Moonhunter face-flippered and glared at him.

"You want to get yourself caught?" She questioned rhetorically.

"You could climb up to the top of the building." Yang suggested, tapping his head with his aqua flippers in thought.

"No, because that would make too much noise." Luden pointed out. "I think the best way is to have one penguin distract them while the others sneak in."

"NO!" Gils yelled. "I will not get my awesome butt kicked by those unawesome guards who think they're so awesome when they're really not."

"That sounds like you." Yang muttered.

"HEY!" He glared.

"All of you shut up!" Moonhunter yelled, silencing all of them.

Until Gils smirked and said, "Watch your unawesome language." Which caused Moonhunter to glare at him, making a mental note to slap Lake Blue next time she saw her.

"Haha, very funny." She finally retorted. "Now, you can all test your ideas right here. I've started up a simulation of the scenario with holograms, so don't worry, you won't get hurt. But if the button on your vest..." She pointed out the green button on the side of her outfit, "...beeps loudly, then you would have been caught. In that case, just press it and you'll teleport to the control room, where I'll be. So good luck guys!" She turned and closed the door behind her, waving to them through the window of the control room.

Soon, a few vivid forms began to appear around them, forming the shape of hedges. A white building was seen in the center of the room, with a sign that said, "Target location" on top.

"You guys ready?" Yang asked, glancing at the other two.

A countdown was heard, and a loud beep rang out, signalling them to begin. Yang was first to go. He ran up onto the hedges and jumped onto the edge of a window, shooting a grappling hook up to the roof. All the guards, noticing the movement, began to run into the building to chase after him.

"See? It works-" Yang began as he swung up to the roof, only to stop when a guard grabbed his foot, stopping him from moving. A loud beep came from his vest, and with a sigh, he pressed the button, disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Next was Luden. Taking the opportunity when all the guards were distracted by Yang, he ran the other way and made a beeline for the open window. But finding more guards right next to the window, he skidded behind a hedge, peered over at the entrance and waited. He was interrupted by a loud beep from his vest.

"What?!" He frowned, but pressed his button nonetheless.

"You were right in front of a guard location I pointed out." Moonhunter explained when he appeared.

Last was Gils. Of course no one believed he would make it. He picked up a broom on the ground and stood up straight. A loud yell alerted all the guards of his presence, and they all turned to see Gils with his broom held like how one would hold a guitar.

"Prepare to witness zhe awesome me and my awesome broom guitar!" He yelled, before starting to play his broom guitar and dance towards the entrance, all the while singing the words, "Im awesome!"

Moonhunter had to faceflipper at his plan. But surprisingly, the guards did nothing, and Gils' button didn't make a peep. And Gils just danced and played his way to the entrance, where he swiftly walked in through the front entrance.

A robotic "Mission success" was heard, signifying his success.

"No WAY!" Moonhunter yelled as the holograms disappeared and they reentered the empty room, save for a proud Gils standing in the center.

"What can I say, Im just awesome." He smirked.

* * *

"Woah! Look at all those disguises!" Artie exclaimed in excitement, peering into the rows and rows of assorted disguises.

"Yep, those are all Dot's. You can never be too sure when you're the Stealth lead. Pick one, and we'll have a bit of practice." Mewcat instructed, smiling at the three recruits, who ran through the rows, grabbing different disguises.

"Don't rip them!" She warned.

Finally, all four of them had a disguise in their flipper, and were attempting to put them on. Mewcat got hers on with ease, and so did the other two recruits. But Artie was having issues with his.

"What's up Artie?" Mewcat asked, waddling over to him.

"This stupid tree wouldn't fit!" Artie frustratedly yelled.

"Woah, volume." Mewcat chuckled. "And you forgot to unzip it." She added, pointing to the shiny zipper underneath.

"Moron." One of the other recruits muttered, rolling his eyes as Artie frowned.

"Don't say that, Rodelstein." Mewcat frowned. "I know for one that you were having trouble passing the speed test when we first recruited you. So don't laugh." She scolded as the purple penguin huffed and turned the other direction, his piano costume making him look ridiculous.

"Alrighty!" Mewcat clapped once everyone had their disguises. "So I want you to properly disguise yourself, as if you were that object. So for example, since I am a slice of cheese, I will lay still like a slice of cheese would." She sat on the floor, unmoving, looking exactly like a giant wedge of cheese.

"And since when did gigantic wedges of cheese exist?" Rodelstein questioned.

"You'd be surprised the number of things that manage to fool Herbert." Mewcat grinned, popping out of her costume. "Now, your turn!" She watched as the three penguins lay still.

"Nice work Mattie, almost didn't see ya there." Mewcat giggled as the red penguin peered out of the hole in his disguise.

"I know. Most people don't notice me." He said softly, a little sad.

"Aww, don't worry. That's just what we need here in Stealth, so you'll be just fine." Mewcat smiled, then frowned a little as she walked over to Rodelstein.

"Head down." She said, patting the brown hair that was sticking out of the piano.

"It's so hot in here." He grumbled in response.

"You picked the piano disguise. You could have picked the sponge disguise." Mewcat chuckled, before turning to everyone.

"Nice work. Now make sure you put the disguises back in a neat and orderly fashion. After that, we can have a break."

* * *

So dude, we totally get to hack into stuff and other cool stuff like that!" Alfie exclaimed excitedly to Tori, who sat at the computer next to him.

"I wouldn't say 'hack'." Jessie chuckled. "But I assume you're all familiar with computers and technology, correct?"

They nodded, and Jessie smiled. "Good. So I assume you can intercept messages and all of the like?" They nodded once again.

"Cool. So in front of you, I have a program that is supposed to help you practice all of the technological skills you'll need. There's code cracking and tumblers and firewall breaking." She explained.

"Aww, I hate tumblers." Alfie groaned.

"Just click start whenever you're ready." Jessie smiled, watching them work on the practice exercises. Alfie was whining at his first activity, the tumblers, while Tori was quietly working on the second, but he was showing a few clear signs of worry. The third recruit, however, was working very quickly. The black penguin was already working on his fifth: intercepting and decoding an old message from Herbert.

"Nice work, Kik." She complimented. "I assume you've had practice with Tech before?"

He nodded, his experience with the piece of technology very clear in the fluid movements of his flippers over the keyboard.

This should be easy then, Jessie thought as she made her way over to Alfie and helped him through his problems, giving him tips and suggestions.

It was silent, save for the clacking of the keyboard and occasional mouse clicks.

* * *

Lake Blue clapped her flippers. "So, welcome to Comm." She smiled, "I will be helping you become good Comm agents. I take that you're all experienced with communication?"

"Pastaaaaaaa!" Feli sang randomly.

"Well. That was random." Lake Blue laughed. "But really, in Comm, the main objective is to communicate and try to get what you're looking for. I personally prefer to negotiate, but sometimes you do have to argue your way. But I'm sure you will all do great!"

"Of course. I'm the expert on love and persuasion." Fries smiled.

Lake Blue stared at him oddly, then said, "Ooookay, that was kind of weird. But okay! We could share a few communication strategies and give each other tips. After all, that's the best way you could learn!" She beamed. "So Evane, what's your main comm strategy?"

The purple penguin looked up with a small smile. "Well, I usually talk to them, and if they don't cooperate, I think about all the bad things that can happen to them and secretly curse them. Then they usually agree, although I'm still not sure why." He explained, giving off a slightly eerie and scary aura, leaving the others speechless.

Lake Blue awkwardly coughed a little to ease the mood. "Alrighty then, very interesting. How about you Feli?"

Feli looked a terrified, for he we staring at the purple penguin and shaking slightly. But at the sound of his voice, he perked up and gave a big smile. "Everyone knows pasta is the best way to go. Invite them over to pasta and have a big fun family chat. Pastaaaaaa!" He cheered.

"Ahh, the cheerful and carefree approach." Lake Blue smiled. "Even though you went already, do you have anything else to add Fries?"

Fries smiled and nodded his head. "Non, I've said enough." He procured a rose and set it on the table, giving a wink.

Lake Blue shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "Okay... Well my main strategy is not to have a main strategy." The recruits gave her confused looks. "I mean, every penguin is different. So my strategy varies for each penguin. Sometimes I try to make the penguin feel comfortable talking to me, other times I have to argue a little and use my head. So one of the most important skills is judging the situation and deciding what is the most effective strategy for the penguin." She smiled. "We all got that?" She asked.

Everyone nodded. "Great! You can go take a lunch break now. We usually have donuts or pizza in the lunch room."

* * *

"That was weird..." Lake Blue shrugged.

"What?" Mewcat asked as she sipped a smoothie.

"My group. It was so awkward, with an overly romantic guy and a creepy scary guy. Feli was pretty nice though."

"My group was pretty quiet, except for Alfie." Jessie smiled.

"When does Alfie ever shut his beak?" Moonhunter reasoned.

"Touché." Lake Blue nodded.

"But that Gils guy is like crazy. He actually managed to complete Scenario #4872." Moonhunter added.

"Really? The one with the building and the OP guards?" Mewcat stopped, staring at her in disbelief.

"Yeah." Moonhunter nodded.

"But it's never been beaten before, except by Rookie!" Jessie protested.

"I don't know how he did it, but he did it." Moonhunter shrugged.

"What did he do exactly?" Mewcat asked.

"Play a broom guitar and sing 'Im awesome'."

"You're kidding!" Mewcat exclaimed. Moonhunter shook her head.

Lake Blue giggled. "I guess in some scenarios you just have to be the exact opposite of serious."

"Maybe." Moonhunter shrugged.

"But I think the new recruits are learning pretty well. That Kik penguin is really good with computers." Jessie smiled.

"Yeah, things are going pretty well. Nothing's broken so far, and we haven't had any issues with Herb-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Lake Blue was interrupted **(Yet again! DX)** by a loud scream, one that was way too familiar to them.

"You just jinxed it. Something's wrong with Herbert." Mewcat groaned as they ran out the door and down the stairs to the location of the polar bear.

* * *

**Herbert, why do you always cause trouble?! DX **

**I think we tanked Day 1 like a hero (Not really). But what will happen when Herbert's interview comes along? **

**So yeah, lots of new characters. I don't think they'll be playing a major role in the story though... Not sure about that... Do you guys think I introduced too many characters at once? **

**This is group plan of all the new recruits in each section:**

**Tactical: Gils, Yang, and Luden**

**Tech: Alfie, Tori, and Kik**

**Stealth: Artie, Rodelstein, and Mattie**

**Comm: Fries (XD), Evane, and Feli**

**I still can't believe I named him Fries XD **

**But that is all for today, and until next chapter, I wish you a great day! :D**


	3. Unawesome Exercise

**Hello! I can't believe I lost that fast updating thing so quickly already ;-; But hey, I have it ready now, right? Better late than never! x3**

**Jessie9095: ... Oh well. I guess I'll fit in Kumakichi sometime... Maybe... .**

**BlytheLPSgirl2012: xD I just don't like bad endings... Because they're bad. Although I do try to fit a few more "evil" scenes where our antagonist seems to win. And of course Gils is awesome! He's the king of awesome! The awesomest of the awesomest! XD**

**Missygirl156: XD Oh my gosh, that was awesome. XD **

**Depressed Soul: The new characters are based off of countries in Hetalia, so if you are familiar with them, it would be a little easier to understand. I will try to show their personality in future chapters though. Thanks for the suggestion! **

**Okay! The recap! Last time we met, we were introduced to our new recruits (All 12 of them! Phew, that's a lot!), who had to go through their daily practices and training. When they finally settle for a break from teaching, the girls hear a scream from Herbert... Oh no XD Enjoy! **

* * *

"Okay, what's going on here?!" Lake Blue ordered sternly as they burst into the detainment room, the four penguins' eyes scanning the room for signs of suspicious behavior.

Most of the new recruits were crowded in the room, all eyes staring back at the new leads,with a few looks showing signs of guilt and shock. The agents turned their gazes to Herbert, who was cowering and shaking in the corner of his cell, his face buried in his paws as he refused to make eye contact with anyone in the room.

"What in Club Penguin happened here?" Lake Blue questioned once again, a little slower.

"Yeah, why is Herbert hiding in the corner as if he just saw his mother-in-law?" Moonhunter added, which caused Lake Blue and Jessie to burst into giggles. Mewcat shook her head and nudged them to be quiet.

"I told them it was a bad idea!" Tori blurted out, a very worried and scared expression on his face. "But then it just escalated so quickly and then you showed up and-"

"Woah, woah, woah. Slow down a little." Jessie chuckled, "Now, from the beginning. What happened in here?"

"Well," Tori took a few deep breaths. "It started during break..."

* * *

"So dude, how was training?" Alfie loudly asked as he plopped down on one of the chairs with a donut.

"You sound like Luden when you say that!" Feli beamed cheerfully as he nudged the aforementioned blue penguin.

"I have never said that before in my life, Feli." Luden denied, raising an eyebrow in question.

"But everything you say is about training!" Feli protested.

"I-"

"Training was awesome. Not as awesome as ze awesome me though." Gils smirked as he interrupted his brother and continued the conversation.

"Please." Artie rolled his eyes. "Nothing is as awesome as you, according to you."

"Evane!" Tori began, eyeing the scary purple penguin, who was staring creepily at him. "C-can y-you... Eek!" He yelped and hid behind Yang, too scared to finish his sentence.

"Aiyah, just cut that out, Evane. It's creepy." Yang sighed, breathing a small sigh of relief as Evane broke eye contact and smile happily as if nothing happened.

"I propose we all have a bit of fun." Fries's voice rang out as he draped a flipper around Mattie. "Lets go check on that polar bear. Who knows, maybe we can make friends with him."

"No! He's scary! It's dangerous! We shouldn't go!" Tori blurted out, frantically shaking his head.

"Dude! That's totally the coolest idea ever! Lets go!" Alfie cheered excitedly, already heading for the door.

"You are not afraid of that unawesome polar bear, are you Tori?" Gils challenged with a small smirk, the yellow penguin immediately shaking his head and following the large crowd of penguins.

"You go." Luden nodded. "Feli and I will stay here."

"Mm hmm." Feli hummed in agreement as he stuffed his face with pizza.

* * *

"Ze awesome us has arrived! Your day just go more awesome because ze awesome me is here!"

Herbert grimaced at the obnoxious white penguin as a crowd of multi-coloured penguins filed into the room.

"Why are all of you here, to annoy me?" He growled, glaring at all of them, which only cause Tori to take a few steps back, bumping into Artie and Kik.

"Calm down, we are only here to chat like friends." Fries grinned, causing the white polar bear to roll his eyes and lean against the bars of the cage.

"I will not be friends with you fools, especially not with that LAME pengun who is trying to copy my fur color!" He pointed a fat finger at Gils, who gasped.

"The unawesomely unawesome you did NOT just call ze awesome me lame!" He yelled, glaring fiercely at Herbert.

"Oh yes I did. What are you going to do about it, you lame penguin?" Herbert mocked, smirking at him.

Gils said nothing as he stormed up to the bars of the cage, leaning in.

_SMACK!_

"Ow!" Herbert yelped, holding his face where the angry penguin had slapped him, HARD. "That hurt!" He pouted, still glaring at the smug penguin, who had moved out of his reach.

Meanwhile, Fries, Alfie, and Mattie were having a full on conversation about food.

"I cook a lot of exotic dishes, and I'm undeniably one of the best cooks here!" Fries grinned, ignoring the intense, one-sided staring competition between Herbert and Gils, who was flipping through his phone and ignoring the polar bear.

"I like your crepes, but I made pancakes the other day." Mattie smiled proudly.

"Dude, those pancakes were so COOL!" Alfie added excitedly, "But hamburgers are the best foods you could ever eat!"

Herbert, having overheard the conversation, retorted, "Hamburgers are the worst foods imaginable!"

Alfie gasped, staring at him with shock. "What did you say?"

"Hamburgers are terrible. They have meat in it, which is disgusting. They have all that fat and oil in it too! They make you fat!"

"At least I can jump! You're so fat from whatever 'healthy' food you're eating that you can't even walk properly!" Alfie shot right back, glaring at him.

Tori could see that this was going to turn ugly really soon. "G-guys..-"

"At least I'm not a midget, like that fool right there!" He pointed at Yang, who glared back fiercely.

"Don't be racist! You have no right to be insulting me like that!" Yang huffed, turning away from him before he exploded on him.

Evane, who had remained silent up until now, took a few menacing steps forward. Herbert immediately paled as he stared at him with a creepy and menacing look.

Backing up against the wall, he quivered a little at the sight of the angry penguin, who had an evil glare in his eyes while still maintaining a slight smile, making his overall appearance even more terrifying.

When Herbert swore he saw a dark purple cloud around the penguin's head, he screamed.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

* * *

"And that's when you came in." Tori concluded, eyes glancing over at the shivering polar bear in the corner.

The four agents exchanged glances with each other, some smiling and others sighing.

"I'm surprised." Lake Blue smiled, "I've never seen Herbert like THAT before." She chuckled, walking up to the bars of the cage and peering in.

A click and a flash suddenly interrupted the silence as all eye turned to see Moonhunter holding up her phone, showing a clear picture of Herbert in his current state. "For future blackmail." She explained with a small grin.

"I can see why Gary put Evane in Comm. He really can communicate his side very efficiently." Jessie chuckled.

"Speaking of which, I wonder how they're doing." Mewcat added.

"It's not like it matters. They resigned." Moonhunter rolled her eyes.

"But it's still good to remember them and think about them. They did help us a lot." Lake Blue reminded.

"Uhh, dudes? What do we do now?" Alfie's uncertain voice interrupted their small conversation, staring expectantly at the four girls.

"Well, break time's over, so you can all go and practice your skills in the training simulation rooms." Lake Blue smiled, checking her watch.

"Alright! Lets go dudes!" Alfie yelled as he bounded towards the door, the other penguins slowly filing out.

All except one. Tori.

He stayed back, fidgeting with his flippers a little as he nervously glanced up at the agents.

"What's up Tori?" Jessie asked, a little confused.

"Umm... I... Don't know if I want to stay here." Tori mumbled.

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Lake Blue asked calmly.

"I-... I WANT TO QUIT!" He yelled, shoving his Trainee Tech badge into Jessie's flippers and running out the door.

"Tori! Wait!" Mewcat grabbed his flipper before he could run off. "Why?"

Tori took a few deep breaths and calmed himself down. "No one listens to me when I warn them, and then trouble comes and it's usually my fault!"

"When did we ever say it was your fault?" Lake Blue asked.

"I have to explain the situation!"

"That's not true. Lake Blue is the main penguin here that talks and argues and explains, but that doesn't mean the situation she's explaining is her fault." Jessie smiled. "Don't worry, you'll be the last penguin we'd blame everything on."

"R-really?" Tori asked uncertainly.

"Yep." Lake Blue smiled. "Now go on ahead and continue your practice. After all, we as agents do have a pretty serious responsibly that we do take seriously."

"Even though it may not seem like at at times." Mewcat chuckled, patting him on the shoulder and watching him skip out the door **(Like Poland XD) **

When he left, the girls turned to the somewhat calmer Herbert, still sitting in the corner.

"You alright, Herbert?" Lake Blue giggled.

Herbert scowled at her. "I wasn't scared."

"Yeah, sure you weren't." Moonhunter scoffed.

"So how is your interview preparation going, Mr Im Such An Evil Genius?" Mewcat mocked.

"It will be a success. I've already pictured and planned the whole interview in my head. I will get into Harfish." Herbert explained proudly.

"How do you plan the thing in your head? Are you sure you're not just sleeping?" Lake Blue giggled.

"No!" Herbert quickly said. "Anyway, how many days left?"

"Can't you keep track yourself?" Jessie groaned, checking her watch, "It's Tuesday today, so your interview is in 10 minutes."

"WHAT?!" Herbert jumped up, grabbing the bars of the cage in a desperate attempt to free himself. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?!" He shouted angrily.

"Calm down, she was just joking. It's Thursday today, you still have 5 days, if you were actually keeping track." Lake Blue grinned at Herbert, sharing a high-five with Jessie.

Herbert growled at them before turning back to his bed, flopping down on it.

"I'm so boooooored!" He complained, voice muffled by his pillow.

"We would fit an exercise regiment in, but since you hate moving so much we decided to just cut that out." Lake Blue smiled.

"I want the exercise regiment! Gimme!" Herbert demanded, raising his head.

"Are you sure? It's now directed by Luden..." Lake Blue exchanged glances with her friends, who smiled and shrugged.

"Yes, I'm just too bored." Herbert quickly nodded his head.

"Alright then. I'll go call Luden." Mewcat skipped out the door, grinning to herself.

"Alright then. Here's your exercise jumpsuit. I'll pencil in your schedule." Lake Blue said, throwing him a bright orange outfit and grabbing the clipboard hanging on the wall.

* * *

"Lets go!" Herbert yelled, pulling on the jumpsuit and pulling at the bars.

"Good luck! You'll need it!" Moonhunter called as he followed Luden out through the door.

"Why would I- Gah!" Herbert was interrupted as he tripped over the door frame, bumping into Luden.

"Watch where you're going." The blue penguin growled, stopping in the center of the green field.

"20 laps around here. Now." He ordered, glaring expectantly at him.

"What?" He asked, not processing the order.

"20 Laps. _Now_." He repeated, giving him a very stern glare.

"What?! Why?!" Herbert exclaimed, shocked by the sudden demand.

"This is your physical exercise time, not some relaxation time. Now 20 laps before I add another 10." He threatened.

Herbert, having no other option, began to run at a slow pace on the red path. He was already starting to turn red in the face as he huffed along. A crowd of multicoloured agents had gathered at the door, watching Luden's strict and more military-style self come out.

After half a lap, Herbert was showing clear signs of slowing down, his face all red, and his breath heavy.

"HURRY UP!" Luden yelled at him loudly. "You will finish your laps by 2 hours or it's 20 more push-ups! You have less stamina than Rodelstein!"

"HEY!" Rodelstein yelled in protest. "At least I play the piano better than you!"

Lake Blue and Jessie couldn't help but giggle at the scene. Soon, Feli jogged up behind Herbert and was skipping happily across the field.

"Oi! What do you think you're doing Feli?!" Luden called to the happy penguin, who grinned and yelled back a reply.

"He looks really tired, so I'm running with him so he'll only be half as tired!" Feli grinned as he began to run... At half Herbert's pace. He was basically skipping and walking.

"That's not running!" Luden began to yell, but was interrupted by Gils, who strolled up to him and placed a flipper around him.

"Hey Brohas!" He greeted, smirking as always.

"What do you want? I'm administering a training session." Luden muttered, trying to push him away to no avail.

"You really need to stop that unawesome yelling. And I wouldn't expect much from that unawesome grizzly bear, you know he's not as awesome as the rest of us, especially not me." He smirked.

"I'm... A... POLAR... BEAR!" Herbert panted in between breaths,

"And I'm a penguin!" Feli cheered happily, skipping and picking up small flowers growing in the grass.

"Whatever you unawesome albino wannabe. Only ze awesome me is awesome enough to be an awesome albino." Gils waved his complaints away as he made his way back to the group.

"GO FASTER!" Luden yelled once again to the polar bear, who was so tired at this point... And he was only on his third lap.

"Well, we know who's going to be a dictator in the future." Moonhunter whispered to her friends, who giggled and nodded in response.

"I can't!" Herbert protested, running as fast as his little stubby legs could go.

"Too bad! Faster!" Luden yelled back. "Like Feli!"

"He's going slower than me!"

"Oh, really?" Luden questioned with a slight smirk. "If you don't finish your lap in the next minute, Artie will be cooking dinner tonight!"

Feli immediately sped up at ten times his previous speed, racing past Herbert, almost knocking him off his feet, and finishing the rest of the track in less than ten seconds. He plopped down on the bench with an orange.

"I am NOT eating that soggy mess of doom!" Feli asserted, grimacing at the thought of Artie's cooking.

Artie sadly looked at the two penguins. "You think my cooking's terrible?"

Lake Blue patted him on the back. "It's okay Artie. Not all of us are that great at cooking either."

"Yeah, cough cough Lake Blue." Mewcat coughed, shooting her a slight smirk. Lake Blue frowned a little.

"Not cool dude." She shook her head.

"Ha! The leads are having a cat fight!" Gils jeered, smirking as usual.

"Shut your face Gils." Jessie scolded, "That was not a cat fight in any way."

"Sure sure, you cannot fool the awesome me." Gils laughed.

"HAHA! DUDE! The fat guy just tripped! AHAHAHAHAHA!" Alfie interrupted, pointing at the flustered bear while laughing uncontrollably.

"You alright? Are you normal?" Moonhunter asked sarcastically as she handed him a cup of water.

"Yeah-" He interrupted himself with a large gulp of water. "But dude, that was the funniest thing I've seen all day."

"He's not very graceful in the way he runs, hm?" Fries noted, looking very displeased at Herbert, who was still puffing like a floppy pillow **(I have no idea why I just wrote that .) **

"Shouldn't he stop? He's going to pass out from the lack of oxygen." Tori eyed the panting polar bear worriedly.

"Nah. He'll live. He's survived much worse." Jessie giggled.

"Like getting turned into a coconut." Lake Blue added.

"And getting hit by a helicopter going at full speed." Mewcat continued.

"And surviving concussions caused by Lake Blue's kicks." Moonhunter finally added.

"Hey! I don't kick THAT hard!" Lake Blue protested.

"Sure, because kicking down a wooden door doesn't take a lot of power." Moonhunter scoffed sarcastically.

"Dude! His door is so weak! I feel like I get splinters every time I kick it! And I'm wearing shoes!" Lake Blue flailed her flippers.

"Then why do you keep kicking it?" Mewcat questioned.

"It's fun. And it looks cooler." Lake Blue beamed, giggling.

"DO NOT TOUCH ME!" Herbert shouted loudly, which directed all the attention back to him. Luden was chasing him around with a whip, while Herbert was flailing his arms and running for his life.

He ran for a few more seconds before scrambling up the metal fence and vaulting himself over the top.

"Dude! We have a runaway!" Alfie yelled, deafening all those near him.

"Yes, we know, you wanker! No need to kill my hearing!" Artie yelled back at him.

"Don't worry, he won't get far. Come watch." Lake Blue assured, walking up the stairs and pointing.

"Aaaaahhh!" Herbert screamed, running for his life. Behind him, a small old penguin was chasing him with an angry expression on her face.

"You get back here right this instant you ugly penguin! No one and I mean NO ONE steps on MY lawn and tramples MY flowers without getting a good beating!" She shouted, waving her metal cane as she continues to pursue the huffing bear, who was already tried enough.

Suddenly, he tripped over a tree root and fell into the snow face first. The penguin, finally catching up to him, began to smack him as many times as she could with her walking cane.

"Ow! Ow! OW! Get away!" Herbert growled, trying to defend himself from the wrath of her cane.

"Old Mrs. Zwingli absolutely HATES it whenever anyone steps on her property. Keep that in mind." Lake Blue laughed as Herbert was having a fierce argument with the old penguin.

"Yeah, Lake Blue nearly got beaten up when she accidentally kicked a portion of the fence down, which landed on her flowers." Moonhunter laughed.

"Dude, can you stop sharing embarrassing stories of me?" Lake Blue scowled slightly, but they ended up all laughing once more as Herbert ran away from Mrs. Zwingli into the distance.

* * *

**Yup, I don't know what Herbert was thinking either, signing up for exercise. But now he has to face the consequences XD **

**Oh mai god, I just introduced another character! DX I need to stop. Oh by the way, anyone know who Mrs. Zwingli is in correlation to Hetalia? ;D **

**I'm obsessed with Hetalia ;-; No. This is a Club Penguin fanfic. *takes a deep breath* Lets keep this CP. XD**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! Herbert keeps getting himself into the worst situations, doesn't he? XD **

**Well, I will see you all in the new chapter! Until then, I wish you all a wonderful day! :D**

**WHY ARE MY CHAPTERS NOW 3,500 WORDS LONG?! DX**


	4. Reflections

**G'day! :D Welcome back to A College Challenge! I know, this is already the fourth chapter and Herbert still hasn't gone to his interview x3 **

**Jessie9095: :D And then Mr Kitty Lover has an argument with Mr Paper Bag xD**

**Lous Desserped: I don't know... Club Penguin logic :/**

**BlytheLPSgirl2012: *le gasp* XD You know, I noticed that I always seem to update soon after you review... Hmm XD**

**Anyhoo, thanks for the reviews everyone! :D Let's recap! Last time we met, Herbert got mentally scarred for life because of Evane, and OMG Tori almost quit! :O Then Herbert decides that he wanted to do the daily exercise (Brought to you by Luden x3) and then discovers that it's not so fun anymore. So he vaults himself over the fence and ends up getting beat up by the old lady next door XD**

**Enjoy these super long chapters! I have no idea why I write so much DX ********4,000 words... Good god. O.o**

* * *

After rescuing Herbert and apologising to Mrs. Zwingli, Herbert was back in his cell, exhausted out of his mind.

"That Ludwig guy is a monster." Herbert complained under his breath.

"His name's 'Luden', and you brought it upon yourself. We weren't the ones who decided you were going to have an exercise regiment." Lake Blue reasoned, locking the door with a definite click.

"Hmph." Herbert huffed, too tired to argue.

"Oh, and I'm sorry to inform you, but you'll be doing your daily exercise every day until your interview date." Moonhunter told him with a smug look.

"What?!" Herbert jumped up from the bed, staring at them in disbelief. "Why?"

"Not our rules. The computer system doesn't allow us to change routines for 10 days once they've been changed, so just bear with it for another 4 days." Mewcat shrugged.

"Noooooo... Does that mean I'll have to put up with that guy for 4 days?!" Herbert groaned.

"Yep. We don't know the details of your exercise, that's up to Luden to decided, but he'll let you know when you have to change into your orange suit." Jessie smiled, amused by Herbert's reluctance.

As the four turned to leave, Lake Blue called, "You better rest up. He has some pretty intense workouts for you, so I heard." She shut the door closed with a soft click.

Herbert lay on his back, facing the ceiling and thought, ___I hate this place._

* * *

"Dude! Luden! You're here so totally early!" Alfie yelled, patting the blue penguin on the back.

"Of course he is! He's my brother!" Gils smirked, ruffling the younger penguin's neat and slicked back hair.

"Oi! Don't touch my hair!" Luden growled, re-fixing his hair.

"So why are you here so early?" Lake Blue asked, checking the time. "It's exactly 4:48 in the morning..."

"It's time for the training regiment to begin." Luden answered gruffly, "And why are you three here so early?"

"Alfie and Gils were keeping the night watch, and I'm here for the morning watch." Lake Blue nodded, smiling. "I'd love to see Herbert's reaction to having his exercise regiment so early. Give me a few moments and let me tell everyone." She grinned.

"Okay, but tell them to hurry. I'm calling him at 5." Luden nodded.

"Ha! Dude, he's going to be so super annoyed." Alfie laughed as Lake Blue pulled out her phone.

_To: Mewcat, Jessie, Moonhunter_

_Rise and shine! :D _

_Luden's about to call Herbert up for his morning exercise, so if you want to watch his reaction, you better hurry up and get over here! I'll order breakfast for all of us, so don't worry! _

_-Lake_

"There, that should do it." Lake Blue beamed as she pressed _Send_. Then she proceeded to call the coffee shop, ordering a few boxes of assorted pastries.

"Lake Blue, you are seriously crazy for texting me at 5 in the morning." Mewcat's sleepy voice murmured as she waddled slowly into the room, rubbing her eyes in an attempt to wake herself up.

"Mewcat!" Lake Blue cheered, enveloping her friend in a tight hug, which was enough to jolt the aqua penguin awake.

"I'm here too." Jessie nodded, likewise waddling in, although she seemed more awake.

"Same." Moonhunter bounded in. "I literally got that text just as I got home from the night shift earlier. So where's Herbert?"

"He's about to get woken up by Luden for his exercise." Lake Blue giggled, handing them each a cup of warm coffee, which they took gladly.

"Thanks. I still can't believe you get here at like 5 in the morning." Moonhunter made a face, then sipped her coffee.

"Shall we head over?" Luden asked, checking his watch. 4:57 AM.

"And watch the unawesome polar bear get awesomely woken up by our awesomeness!" Gils added with a grin.

"Sure!" Lake Blue cheerfully said, tugging on her friends' flippers as she bounced towards the door.

With a gentle push, the door swung open soundlessly, stopping just before it crashed into the wall.

Herbert was sleeping in his bed, wrapped in his white sheets. He face was surprisingly more peaceful that his usual grouchy self, with the exception of his frequent loud snores. He hugged a crab plushie he no doubt got from Klutzy as a Christmas present.

Lake Blue, Jessie, Alfie, and Gils had to cover their beaks to stop themselves from bursting out laughing. Moonhunter had out her phone and was currently recording the whole thing.

Luden strode confidently up to the bars of the cage, and with a whip, cracked it on the walls.

_CRACK! _

The loud sound reverberated around the room, also causing the metal bars to vibrate and hum.

"GET UP RIGHT THIS INSTANT!" Luden barked loudly, jolting Herbert awake as he fell off the side of his bed.

"AHH!" Herbert yelped as his face collided with the floor. Looking dazedly up at the agents, he closed his eyes and was about to go back to sleep until Luden continued barking out orders.

"YOUR TRAINING BEGINS RIGHT NOW! YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES TO CHANGE BEFORE I ADD ANOTHER FIVE LAPS!"

"W-what?!" Herbert exclaimed, still half asleep as he quickly scrambled up to his feet, glaring as best as he could at the laughing agents behind the strict penguin.

"You heard me! Now move it!" Luden ordered, maintaining a stern demeanour.

Dazedly, Herbert shuffled to the orange jumpsuit, only to trip over his bed sheets, which only caused the agents to laugh even harder.

"Oh... My... Gosh... That was some awesome footage." Moonhunter laughed, looking back at the video.

"AHAHAHAHAHA! DUDE! HIS REACTION WAS HILARIOUS!" Alfie was laughing so hard he had to hold onto Gils to keep himself upright.

"Stupid fools..." Herbert muttered under his breath as he walked back to his bed, "Waking me up at this time for no reason."

"Oi! Get changed right now or you're doing an extra 10 laps!" Luden threatened, glaring at Herbert.

"Wait, you're serious?!" Herbert stared in disbelief at the blue penguin, gasping in shock.

"Yup! He's as serious as your unawesomely ugly face is!" Gils laughed, leaning against the wall.

"But WHY is it so EARLY?!" Herbert complained as he grabbed his orange jumpsuit, storming into the bathroom to change.

"I'll have you know that I used to get up at 3 in the morning every day to train! You're lucky!" Luden shouted, receiving an inaudible muffled protest from the exhausted polar bear.

"And this is the exact reason why I don't like military schools." Lake Blue giggled.

"But you've never been in one." Mewcat pointed out.

"No, but I was in that one dance school, remember? Oh my god, that was terrible. They'd basically force you into the splits!" Lake Blue reminded, her eyes bugging out to emphasise her point. "I quit after a week."

"Oh, so THAT'S where you learned to kick like an ox!" Alfie noted.

"Not the best way to describe it, but basically." Lake Blue smiled, shaking her head.

Herbert had emerged from the bathroom with the orange jumpsuit as Luden unlocked the door, shoving him into the field.

"Speed up the pace. You're 20 seconds behind schedule! Now 10 laps!" Luden commanded, and Herbert began to jog, rubbing his shoulder where he was shoved.

"Luden's very... Punctual, isn't he?" Lake Blue chuckled.

"Totally! He yelled at Feli when he showed up 5 seconds after 9 yesterday!" Alfie agreed, watching the scene with fascination.

Herbert huffed as he gave a mean scowl behind Luden's back.

"I saw that! That's an extra 20 jumps!" Luden ordered, swiftly pencilling the new activity.

"Since when was jumping considered exercise?!" Herbert protested, flailing his arms, which was really unwise considering he barely had enough energy to finish his 10 laps.

"Dude, jumping has always been considered as exercise!" Alfie yelled.

"Your time's up! You didn't finish your laps on time!" Luden barked, with Herbert skidding to a stop. "Now you will do 30 jumps. Someone help me."

"Dude! I will! I will!" Alfie jumped, rushing over to grab the fishing pole in Luden's flipper. "So dude, how will this work?"

"Haha, ze awesome me knows. You put some awesome pizza on the end, hold it above his face, and get ze unawesome him to jump up to grab ze awesome pizza." Gils smirked, speaking soft enough so it was out of Herbert's hearing range.

"No WAY! Dude, that's pretty awesome!" Alfie exclaimed, climbing up the stairs and dangling the pizza over the edge.

Herbert panted as he slowly looked up... And saw... DUN DUN DUN! A juicy slice of pizza hanging right there!

With a gleeful squeal, he raced over to the pizza, about to grab it, when...

It just disappeared!

"Huh?!" Herbert blurted out, shooting a quick glare at the agents, who were laughing hysterically.

Lake Blue shakily pointing up as she tried to contain her laughter.

Herbert slowly looked up to see the pizza hanging right out of arms reach. With a quick jump, he tried to snatch the pizza slice, only to have it jerked out of reach by Alfie and Gils.

With a disappointed whine, he jumped up again. And again. And again. And again. All without success.

"Not funny you fools." He complained, plopping down on the grass.

"OI! NO SITTING DURING TRAINING!" Luden yelled, causing the dejected polar bear to shoot up to a stand, crashing into the slice of pizza above him.

"OW!" Herbert cried, clutching the burnt and cheese-covered top of his head, shooting a glare at Alfie, who was leaning on the railing from laughing so much.

"Woah! Medic! We need ya!" Lake Blue called, pushing Mewcat, who grabbed a first aid kit and rushed over.

"Fools... Mean... Pizza... Rude... Tired..." Herbert grumbled angrily under his breath as Mewcat pulled out a brush.

"Don't be such a baby. This is nothing compared to the concussions you've gotten from Lake Blue!" Mewcat huffed, brushing the cheese out of his fur.

"Again?!" Lake Blue protested, struggling to keep a laughing Jessie upright.

"Hmm, the jumping seems to be more successful than I thought. Well, Herbert, your training is over for now due to injury. We'll continue later today." Luden told him, striding back indoors.

"Aww really? Dude, he just got burnt by a pizza! I nearly fell into a burger maker and I survived!" Alfie protested, letting the slice of pizza fall on Herbert as he made his way down.

"So unawesome. But then again, it's the unawesome polar bear." Gils shrugged, also following Alfie indoors.

"Well, thanks a lot for leaving Herbert for us to take care of!" Moonhunter called sarcastically behind them.

"Come on, you fat dude, get inside." Mewcat said as she dragged Herbert towards the door.

"I don't wanna. You fools are bullies." Herbert grumbled, shooting them death glares.

"Hey, not our fault. You wanted the exercise. Plus, it's good for your body. You won't be called fat by your friends anymore." Lake Blue beamed.

Herbert's eyes widened. "How did you know-"

"Oh, you gave us this." Jessie interrupted, holding up a thick book.

"Woah! Where did you get my autobiography?!" Herbert asked in shock.

"Dude, you basically forced all of us to have a copy when we met." Moonhunter faceflippered, throwing her copy of the book at Herbert.

"Hey! You be nice! He is very sick!" Lake Blue scolded, shaking her head. **(XD I just loved France when he said that x3)**

"He just burnt his head. On PIZZA." Mewcat retorted.

"I agree with Jessie." Herbert piped up.

"I didn't say anything!" Jessie stared at him with confusion.

"Who said it then?"

"No one. You're just dreaming." Jessie said in a mystic voice, trying to contain her giggles. "Now get back to your cell." She said, giving him a firm push and locking the door.

"Rest up, we'll bring in soup later." Lake Blue called behind her as they left.

"What kind?"

"Does it matter?" Moonhunter retorted.

* * *

"So yeah, he literally bashed his head against the wall, being the fat idiot he is!" Alfie's loud voice was the first thing that greeted the girls as they walked out.

"Woah! I never thought he would do that!" Feli said with wonder and amazement.

"Aiyah, who in their right mind would do that? So immature." Yang tsked.

"What crazy, made up story are you telling everyone now?" Lake Blue chuckled, grabbing a donut from the box.

"Nothing! I was just recounting the story in my hero voice!" Alfie explained proudly.

"By exaggerating everything?" Moonhunter raised an eyebrow. "Dude, the polar bear just burnt himself with a slice of pizza, it's nothing too interesting."

A few disappointed groans and sighs resonated from the group of recruits.

"But it kind of is. It's the first time we've had a burn injury from hitting your head on a pizza." Lake Blue pointed out, taking a bite of her donut, while slapping Alfie's flipper, who was going to take all the boxes of pastries.

"Yeah, and then Lake Blue exaggerates everything by making that he injury seem like a huge illness." Moonhunter retorted. "Like that time when she-"

"Do you have to say every single bad thing that has ever happened to me in front of all the new recruits?" Lake Blue interrupted, giving her a stern look.

Moonhunter said nothing and just stuck her tongue out.

"Ooh! Cat fight! I'm placing my money on Moonhunger!" Alfie cheered, stuffing three donuts down his beak.

"Naw, it's definitely Lake who would win." Gils shook his head in disagreement.

"For the last time, we are not having a cat fight!" Lake Blue shook her head in slight annoyance.

"More like it's called being best friends." Jessie grinned, glomping Lake Blue and tackling her with a hug.

"Gah!" Lake Blue yelped, tumbling backwards into Gils, who bumped into Luden, who stood his ground before he bumped into Feli, who decided that he was going to fall on Rodelstein anyway, who tumbled over Artie, who fell on Fries, who fell on Kik, who fell on Yang, who freaked out and threw a screaming fit when he bumped into Evane, who gave everyone a creepy stare as he bumped into Tori, who screamed and jumped against Alfie, who in turn fell on Mattie, who was panting for breath from the heavy Alfie on top of him.

They soon groaned as they all lay on the floor in a complete mess, with Mewcat and Moonhunter laughing at them.

"That was like the coolest chain reaction EVER! Lets totally do it again!" Alfie squealed, bouncing on top of Mattie, who was trying to push him off.

"Haha, no thanks." Lake Blue laughed, getting up before helping Jessie up. She reached a flipper out for Gils, who just shook his head and smirked.

"IM AWESOME!" He yelled, jumping up to his feet, knocking Luden over, who gave a yelp and landed on Feli, who just got up.

"This is utter chaos." Jessie noted as each of the recruits got up, only to be knocked over by someone else, resulting in both of them falling.

"That's undignified." Rodelstein shook his head, dusting his coat off and readjusting his glasses.

"C'mon Specs! That was awesome and you know it!" Gils protested as he glomped him, causing him to tumble backwards.

"There is nothing awesome about falling to the floor! And get off me! You are heavy!" He groaned, trying to push him off.

"Eek! I'm sorry Evane! It wasn't my fault!" Tori blurted out when Evane glanced at him, avoiding eye contact as he hid behind Yang, who in turn gave the purple penguin a glare.

"Alfiiiiiieee! Get off me!" Mattie complained.

"Don't hug me Fries!" Artie yelled, shooting the blue penguin a glare. **(Sounds like Artie's very protective of his french fries XD)**

When the commotion was past tolerable, Luden decided that he was doing to do something about it.

"EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" He roared.

"Watch your language." Lake Blue coughed, only to receive a stiff glare from the blue penguin.

"GET UP ON YOUR FEET IMMEDIATELY OR YOU WILL BE TRAINING WITH HERBERT LATER TODAY!" He yelled threateningly. There was a brief shuffle as all the recruits stood up, all staring expectantly at Luden.

"That is all. Now we should all get back to work, we've wasted enough time." He said softly, turning towards the training room.

"Wait! Luden!" Lake Blue called, smiling. "That was a nice strategy, although we'd prefer it if you didn't threaten us with training threats. Kay?" Lake Blue grinned, patting him on the back.

"It was your responsibility to take care if them, not mine, so I can use whatever strategies I want." He muttered, swiftly striding away.

"Woah, dictator much?" Mewcat questioned once he was out of earshot.

"I'm telling ya, he's going to end up running this place sooner or later." Moonhunter rolled her eyes.

"Hopefully not." Lake Blue laughed. "But we probably should get Herbert's interview stuff ready. Harfish has confirmed the interview, so we need to prepare the boat and like an entire basket of food, because of course he's going to complain about food."

"And since when do you care if Herbert is hungry?" Moonhunter questioned.

Lake Blue looked at her puzzled. "Since when did I not?"

"Since the first time you kicked him." Mewcat chirped.

Lake Blue paused. "Okay, what's going on here? Why do you two keep like attacking me?" She made a face, then smiled.

"It's 'attack Lake Blue' week, remember?"

"That doesn't exist!"

"It does in our world."

"Hey!" Jessie interrupted, flailing her flippers. "That's MY line!"

"Too bad." Mewcat smirked.

"That's my line too!"

"Guys! Shhh!" Lake Blue commanded, gesturing towards the door of the training room. It was closed, but a few scuffles were heard from behind.

"Someone's eavesdropping." Lake Blue whispered with a slight giggle. They nodded and smiled before following her to the door.

"Hey! Dude! I don't hear anything anymore. Maybe they left?" A loud whisper was heard from the other side.

"Not so loud! And let me hear!" Another recruit.

"Aren't we supposed to be training?" A third voice.

"I'm too awesome for training!" Well, we all know who that is, Lake Blue smiled.

Jessie lightly placed a flipper on the door knob, and with a cheeky grin on her face, glanced back at her friends, who nodded and shared the same grin. Jessie nodded in unison.

Three.

Two.

One.

"GAH!" Alfie exclaimed, tumbling out onto the floor, with Gils and Kik falling forward on top.

"Busted." Mewcat sang, the four of them peering down.

"Ha! Never! Ze awesome me is too awesome to be busted!" Gils smirked, jumping up and dusting himself off, rushing back into the training room.

"Huh? Hey! DUDE! You can't just leave us here! That's totally not cool bro!" Alfie shouted after him.

"Oh dear." Kik sighed, looking guiltily up at the four temporary leads as he glanced at Alfie, who was still preoccupied with shouting complaints down the hall.

"Alright. First of all, Alfie, please stop shouting down the halls. You might set off the earthquake alarm." Lake Blue instructed, tapping the penguin on the shoulder.

"We have an earthquake alarm?" Mewcat whispered to Jessie, who shrugged in response.

"I think it's another one of Gary's installations." Moonhunter rolled her eyes.

"And second of all, why are our little arguments so interesting to you all?" Lake Blue asked, glancing confusedly at the two penguins.

"I don't know, it was Gils's idea. He said something about a-" Alfie began, but was soon interrupted by Gils himself, who had covered his beak and slowly dragged him out the room.

"Mmmf mn nnmff!" Alfie protested, squirming and kicking.

"I told you not to tell!" Gils scowled, struggling to move the heavy penguin. "And lose some weight! You're so heavy!"

"Let him go Gils!" Lake Blue commanded, taking a step forward. Gils paused a bit, then complied, returning to his usual smirking self.

"What? Can't handle a bit of fighting and arguing?" He smirked.

Lake Blue raised an eyebrow, narrowing her eyes slightly. "Don't even mention the arguing. I've probably kicked more penguins than you have."

"Gasp! So she finally admits to her lethal kicks!" Mewcat interrupted, clutching her beak dramatically. Lake Blue and Gils turned to face her with a little confusion.

"Way to kill the mood, so unawesome." Gils rolled his eyes. "I'm too awesome for you anyways, so I'll go see what mein Brohas is doing."

As he turned back around, Moonhunter called out, "Aren't you supposed to be training yourself? You can't get by every single situation just by being 'Mr Awesome', as you put it. So you better get yourself over to the Tactical Training Room before I teleport you there!"

Gils's pace quickened noticeably as he giddily skipped down the hall, with Kik and Alife following.

"Sorry about that." Kik murmured as he waddled by.

Once again, the four leads were left alone.

"They're a weird bunch, aren't they?" Jessie asked, chuckling.

"Ya, and why are they all boys?" Lake Blue asked.

"We'll aren't you nice?" Mewcat asked sarcastically.

"I don't know, I think Jet Pack Guy said something about having penguins more suited to the job... Not too sure what that means." Moonhunter scratched her head.

"Maybe they think us girls can't handle it?" Lake Blue suggested.

"Hmm, maybe. But we'll show them!" Mewcat pumped her flipper up in the air with determination.

"Speaking of which..." Jessie thought aloud. "I still wonder what they're doing..."

* * *

"This is more like it. I wonder why we didn't do this sooner." Dot sighed happily, adjusting her purple-tinted shades.

"So much FUN!" Rookie squealed from the clear blue water he was splashing in.

"We should definitely come here more often. I never expected the Cove to be so nice." Gary nodded in agreement.

"I guess we've only been here for experiments and training and all of that stuff." Jet Pack Guy shrugged, leaning back in his lawn chair. "Stop checking your pockets, Dot, you don't have your phone anymore."

"I guess it's habits. But still, maybe we were a little too hasty. Do you think the EPF could survive without us or the Director?" Dot questioned hesitantly.

"If they want to run the EPF in that laid back manner, then so be it. Let them bring the EPF to it's demise, it's not our problem anymore." Gary snapped.

"Woah, Gary, chill." Jet Pack Guy raised his flippers up. "No need to get so defensive and mean on all of us."

"No but still, was it really a good idea? I mean, we had fun with them, right? And we still got stuff done." Dot reasoned.

"It's because we had too much fun that Herbert got away every time." Gary rolled his eyes. "Herbert's probably escaped by now and will attack all of us tomorrow!" He tensed up as he sat upright.

Rookie waddled up to them as he grabbed his towel. "You really think they can't handle it?" He asked curiously.

"I... I... I don't know!" Gary sighed, leaning back into his chair.

"Why don't you check up on them? Call them or something?" Dot suggested.

"How? We turned in all our spy phones and equipment before we left." Jet Pack Guy questioned.

"I don't know..." Dot said quietly.

"Whatever. I'm not going back. I can't handle that stress anymore." Gary sighed, sipping his smoothie.

"I think we should just completely retire and forget about the EPF. After all, we have been working there for what, 20 years?" Jet Pack Guy commented.

"19." Rookie corrected.

"And how do you know?"

"I have one rubber duckie on my shelf for each year... Last time I checked, there were 19..." Rookie mumbled sadly. "I miss everyone. I miss all the donuts and pizza and Jessie and Lake Blue and Mewcat and everyone. We had so much fun together."

"Then why don't you go back?" Gary sighed.

"I don't want to leave you guys." Rookie looked at them with hopeful eyes.

* * *

**Aww, Rookie D: I kind of imagines Rookie saying that in Chibitalia's voice, don't know why x3 **

**But hey, looks like our leads have some thinking to do! :O **

**Gils and Alfie just love to cause trouble, don't they? XD**

**But that is the end of today's chapter! I sincerely hope you all enjoyed, and feel free to leave some feedback, I'd love to improve my stories in any way. :) Other than that, thank you for reading, and I wish you all a great day! :D**


	5. Who?

**Hello! Welcome to Chapter 5! :D I was contemplating about how to end this chapter, so see for yourselves if you liked how the chapter ended... It's definitely very different from my usual endings XD**

**Jessie9095: Well, pastries from the Coffee Shop are different from pastries made by Artie XD **

**Isa Kitty: Hey! I haven't seen you in a while! How's it going? And yes, all the new recruits are based on characters from Hetalia, so in that case, Prussia from Hetalia is very similar to Black Star x3 **

**AgentCatherine: XD I don't think it's a stunt, more like a mistake where Herbert gets injured (Again!) XD He gets pushed around so much, doesn't he? u**

**Mewcat60: w Rookie's adorable.**

**BlytheLPSGirl2012: Considering that Herbert wanted the pizza, I would say no, there's no meat. But then again, it would be hilarious if he works so hard and it turns out the pizza had meat in it XD**

**So let us RECAP! :D Last time we met, Luden woke Herbert up at 5 in the morning to do his daily training... Poor guy. And then Alfie and Gils decide to help, which only resulted in Herbert burning his head with pizza, because logic xD And then there was this domino chain reaction and everyone fell on the floor, and our two troublemakers were caught eavesdropping on the girls' conversations. And finally, our four leads are thinking the whole situation over. **

**Enjoy the chapter! :D**

* * *

Herbert sat on his bed with a bored look on his face. He really didn't have anything to do, and he was utterly bored.

"What do I doooooo?!" He complained to nobody in particular, leaning back to lie on his pillow. He was so bored that he considered calling Luden for his exercise, but he quickly dismissed the thought. _I do NOT want to deal with THAT stuff all over again_, he thought, gently touching his head.

When he heard shuffling and mumbling outside the door, he sat up eagerly, hoping someone was going to come in and at least talk to him. It could even be the lame albino penguin, he was just THAT bored.

Suddenly, a series of clicks shook him from his thoughts, and he turned to the little ventilation window to see a spot of red.

"KLUTZY!" He squealed, running over and enveloping the red crab in a tight hug.

"Oof! What's wrong with you?!" Klutzy questioned, a little taken aback by this new personality.

"I was so BOOOOOORED!" He complained, pacing his cell after setting the crab down on the bed.

"Okay? Anyway, I came to inform you that there's this new species of puffle-" Klutzy began.

"I don't care." Herbert scoffed. "Puffles are weird. Don't talk about them."

"But it's interesting. And you're bored, aren't you?" Klutzy clicked smugly.

"Fine. What about those stupid puffles?" Herbert groaned.

"They have a new species of puffle. It's called the Polar Bear Puffle." Klutzy beamed.

"A polar bear puffle?!" Herbert gasped. "Did those puffles finally decide that my beauty was too great and they had to try to become like me? I'm flattered." Herbert said proudly. "I knew this puffles couldn't help but admire my greatness!"

Klutzy was speechless. "Dude, just because they're polar bear puffles, doesn't mean they're based off of you. I think there's only like one or two of them, so they're pretty rare.

"Like me! Polar bears are a very rare species." Herbert boasted proudly.

"Sure, sure, whatever." Klutzy rolled his eyes. "Anyways, just came to say that, and ask you about your interview preparations."

"I don't need no preparations!" Herbert boasted. "I can ace this interview with flying cookies!"

"You mean, flying colors?" Klutzy asked.

"Whatever. Flying cookies sound better." Herbert shrugged.

"Suit yourself. Oh, and by the way, why haven't you tried to escape yet? That's usually like the first thing you do. Do you have a fever?" Klutzy questioned, raising a claw to his forehead.

"Oh yeah!" Herbert blurted out in amazement. "I can still escape! Bt I don't want to."

"What?! Why not?!"

"The food is so much better. I don't have to waste money on pizza, because I get free food!" He grinned.

As if on cue, a bell chimed, and Herbert rushed over to the metal box in the corner of the room and opened it. A slice of pizza and two donuts sat on a paper plate in the box. He eagerly grabbed them and sat back, munching on his food.

"You're going to get so fat after a few days." Klutzy retorted.

"Hey! I'm not fat!" Herbert protested between bites. "And plus, I usually get diet soda to balance it out!" Herbert said, gesturing to the bottle of Diet Southern-Light that also teleported into the box.

"So you actually want to stay here?" Klutzy questioned, confused.

"I kind of want to go to college. I've never been to college, I was told that it's fun. You can attend parties and eat bacon and cheese filled pizza with pasta on top and sleep all day." Herbert daydreamed.

"Dude, who told you that?" Klutzy rolled his eyes. "That's such an inaccurate representation of college. Why don't you ask one of the agents? They're college students, right?"

"How are they supposed to remember what college is like? They're all on summer vacation." He dully replied.

_SLAP! _

"OW! What was that for?!" Herbert yelled, clutching the side of his face.

"For being such an idiot. Not everyone's memory is as bad as yours! And you're not supposed to forget everything you've learned in school, or everything about the school in general!" Klutzy ranted, clicking furiously fast.

"Hey! Don't be mean! I'm much smarter than you!" Herbert retorted.

"I-! Whatever, if you don't need my help, in leaving. And have fun being fat!" Klutzy ranted, scuttling out the hole without another word.

"Huh? Klutzy! Wait! Don't go! I'll be so bored!" Herbert cried, trying to reach for the crab through the tiny hole.

"Too bad!"

Herbert pouted sadly as he was once again alone. And bored. More bored than he was before. But he was sadder that Klutzy called him fat and left him.

"I didn't even get to say the last word!" He complained.

"Hm?" Another voice interrupted him. Turning, he saw Lake Blue at the door, dark eyes peering curiously at him, with a stack of papers in her flippers.

"What are you doing here?" He grumbled, not in the mood to be taunted again.

"Nothing. Just checking up on you to make sure you're not suffering from dementia or something." She chuckled, setting her papers down on the ground and sitting against the wall.

"What are you doing?" Herbert asked suspiciously.

"What? I'm working." Lake Blue replied nonchalantly. "Also looked like you were getting lonely, from the security cameras."

_What?!_, Herbert thought, _Security camera?! How come I never noticed?!_

Sure enough, placed in two corners of the room were small security cameras, all pointed at him.

_Wait... If she saw the security camera, then she must have-_

"Poor Klutzy, eh? Getting yelled at by you." She commented, writing something down.

"Huh? No! He was the one yelling at me!" Herbert protested defensively.

"You just have triggered it somehow."

"Why are you here anyway? Go away, I don't like you." He retorted.

"I can tell. I'm on guard watch, since the others are either training or in a lesson with Jessie, Mewcat, and Moonhunter."

"So? You're annoying."

"What'd I do?"

"Nothing. You're just annoying, so shut up."

"Watch you language! How many times do I have to tell you?!" She glanced up from her papers and glared.

Herbert said nothing and just scowled, causing Lake Blue to burst out laughing.

"Fine, fine, if I'm so annoying, I'll call one of the new recruits to watch you. I think it's about time anyway." She giggled, grabbing her things and getting up, shutting the door once she left.

"What was that?!" Herbert asked himself in confusion, scratching his head.

"I don't know why I have to be the one who watches him. He is completely undignified and is a complete dummy." An unfamiliar voice retorted poshly.

"Ha! Come on, Specs, it'll be fun watching him fail! Right, Brohas?" That annoying albino.

"I guess. You're really immature sometimes though." The really mean exercise penguin

"But it adds to the fun, so long as we don't do anything super crazy." Lake Blue giggled as the door swung open.

"I'd rather play my piano than watch over him." The purple penguin whom Herbert recognised as Rodelstein retorted.

"It's exercise time!" Lake Blue sang. "Now you won't be bored!"

"NO." Herbert shouted, turning his back towards them.

"You can do this now or I'll wake you at 3 tomorrow morning..." Luden began.

"Fine!" Herbert grumbled, grabbing his orange jumpsuit and trudging to the bathroom.

"Heh. Well that was awesome, wasn't it? Just kidding, nothing's awesome about that unawesome albino-wannabe, unlike ze awesome me." Gils smirked, leaning on Luden, who just sighed in response. Rodelstein merely adjusted his glasses and sighed.

"Well, that's my job done! If you need any help, or if there's anything wrong, make sure to call me! I'll have my phone on standby! Good luck!" Lake Blue smiled cheerfully and she waved and walked out the room.

* * *

_FWOOSH!_

Lake Blue walked into the gym, only to barely dodge a swing from Artie.

"Woah! Artie! What's going on?" She yelped, glancing at the green penguin.

"Oh, my apologies Lake Blue, I thought you were that frog face Fries." Artie lowered his head, slightly embarrassed.

"No big deal, but you shouldn't be calling each other names like that. It's not very nice." Lake Blue smiled, patting him in the shoulder. "But I see you're pretty good with the sneak attacks. Hiding behind the door, I mean."

"Oh, I was just trying to smack Fries. He was chasing me earlier." He explained sheepishly.

"AI-YAH!" A loud yelp interrupted their conversation, and Lake Blue turned to see Yang and Alfie fighting. Yang had his trusty wok and was throwing karate kicks and whacks at Alfie, who would pelt him with hamburgers and punches.

"Woah woah woah! What are you two doing?!" Lake Blue yelled, stepping up in between them, only to get hit in the shoulder by Alfie.

"Ow!" She yelped, instinctively jumping up and kicking him in the flipper, causing him to jump back and away from Yang.

"Alright... What were you two doing?" Lake Blue asked, staring at the two recruits once all was silent.

"Don't worry dude, we were merely practicing our skills." Alfie grinned, unfazed by the kick to his flipper.

"Yes, it's a training tactic from my grandfather. You attack each other until someone loses." Yang nodded, panting slightly.

"And what entails 'losing'?" Lake Blue questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"When someone is knocked out!" Alfie chirped, causing the peach penguin to faceflipper.

"Okay, first of all, I don't want all of you to get injured fighting each other. It's a smart tactic, but please, don't kill yourselves doing so, alright?" She reasoned calmly. "And second, make sure you clean up whatever mess you make." She gestured to the mess of hamburger buns, lettuce, cheese, and meat all over the floor.

"Heh." He laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"But it's good to see you trying in other areas. It's always good to have more than one field covered, like Tactical and Comm for me." She smiled, grabbing a broom and a plastic bag from the closet, throwing it over to Yang, who caught it with ease.

"If you ever feel the need to practice your skills with one of us, feel free to ask, alright?" She called as she turned towards the door.

"Kay dude!"

"Oh, and Alfie?" She poked her head around the doorway.

"Yeah dude?"

"Where did you learn to hit that hard? Ouch, that hurt a lot." She grinned, shutting the door behind her.

After opening the door and checking to see if she was gone, Yang and Alfie went back to fighting, and Artie was fencing with Fries, who had managed to sneak up behind him.

* * *

"Wow! This is impressive!" Kik breathed, staring at the screen in front of him.

"Yep, it's our main computer here at the EPF. You should all be familiar with the basic usage, so I'll be showing you. We have quite a few of them here, but the ones in this room are used for practice, so they don't do anything." Jessie grinned.

"It's really fancy, isn't it?" Tori asked, eyeing the shiny, flat screen with caution, as if he was worried it would shatter.

"Yeah, but don't worry, it's very durable. We have laptop versions that are waterproof, pressure resistant, and still lightweight." Jessie smiled. "So lets get started, alright? Choose a computer and enter in your agent ID."

The three agents moved to their own computer and typed in the series of numbers.

"Hey, um... Who let this weird looking puffle in?" Jessie asked, pointing to... An empty space? "Huh? Where'd it go?"

"There it is!" Kik pointed to a light grey puffle with round ears, hanging on top of the fridge, trying to open it.

"Oh! That's my puffle!" Mattie piped up, running over to scoop the puffle up. "I was wondering where you were, Mr Kumakimchi!" He smiled, huggin the puffle tightly.

"Who are you?" A high pitched voice asked, and Jessie and Tori exchanged surprised glances.

"I'm Mattie... How many times do I have to say that?" Mattie sadly replied.

"Wait, hold on, is that a talking puffle?" Jessie interrupted with fascination and curiosity, taking a step toward it.

"Yes, it's the new specie of puffle they've discovered." Kik explained calmly. "It's called the polar bear puffle."

"Woah, a polar bear puffle!" Jessie squealed.

"They said there was only two of them found on this island." Kik further explained.

"So Mattie has one of the only polar bear puffles?!" Tori asked in disbelief.

"I guess." Mattie shrugged. "I mean, I just found him outside, so it wasn't all that difficult."

"What's his name?"

"He's Mr Kumakimchi."

"Aww, you're so cute!" Jessie squealed, patting the puffle on the head, who just simply blinked and asked, "Who are you?"

"That seems to be the only thing he says..." Mattie whispered.

"I'm Jessie." Jessie beamed.

The polar bear puffle turned to its owner and tugging on his sleeve, complained, "I'm hungry!"

"Aww, he's so cute!" Tori smiled as Jessie went and got a small slice of fish from the refrigerator.

"You gotta show him to everyone else." Jessie grinned, then clearing her throat, continued, "Now, shall we continue with our lesson?"

Mattie nodded, setting the puffle down on the floor before turning back to his computer.

"First, when you're doing research, you can use Penguin Explorer, which is the first icon on the left." She gestured to the penguin icon on the left of each screen. "You can use it to research random facts, but most of us use it for typing and other EPF-related work. Most of the contracts and other paper works are typed on these computers. We also use these computers for more private research. Things that should remain in the EPF should be done on this other setting, called 'Secure Mode'. Basically, it prevents others from hacking into this mode and seeing all the top secret information we have." Jessie continued on to explain the different features and guides.

* * *

"Lake Bluuuuuuuueee!" Said penguin found herself being glomped by Jessie in the hallways.

"Hey Jessie!" She laughed, giving her a hug.

"Did you know Mattie has a polar bear puffle?!" Jessie asked excitedly.

Lake Blue stared at her. "No way!" She said in disbelief.

"Yeah! And it can talk!" She described excitedly.

"Those exist?!"

"Yeah! There's only like two of them on the entire island too!"

"Woah!"

"I know! C'mon, lets go!" She squealed, grabbing her flipper and taking off down the hallway.

"What's up guys?" Mewcat called from down the hallway.

"Why are you two running- Gah!" Jessie said nothing as she dragged Moonhunter and Mewcat with her as she continued running.

"Mattie! Show them Mr Kumakimchi!" She giggled, bursting through the door, surprising the three computer penguins.

Mattie just smiled and held up the little puffle, who just stared at them blankly.

"Oh my gosh it's real!" Lake Blue squealed, patting the puffle gently.

"Woah! What is that?!" Moonhunter asked.

"It looks like a polar bear!" Mewcat grinned.

"It's a polar bear puffle!" Jessie explained, while she and Mattie exchanged grins.

"Who are you?"

"Aaah! It talks!" Lake Blue squealed, hugging Mewcat tightly.

"That's pretty awesome!" Mewcat grinned, pushing the giggling peach penguin off her.

"Thanks." Mattie smiled softly.

"Hey! We should show him to Herbert!" Jessie suggested.

Lake Blue stated at her, then grinned. "Yeah! See his reaction!"

"Can we?" Mewcat looked at Mattie for permission, and he just shrugged and nodded.

"Awesome!" Lake Blue cheered.

"Kik and Tori, you guys can keep playing on the computers for a few more minutes, okay? And remember to log out when you're done." Jessie called as they waddled over to Herbert's cell.

* * *

"Hey Herbert!" Lake Blue greeted as they pushed open the door.

Herbert grumbled a few inaudible words through the pillow he was lying on top of.

"How was exercise?" Mewcat smirked.

"Tiring..."

"No duh. We have something to show you!" Jessie smiled, stepping aside to allow Mattie to hold Mr Kumakimchi up.

"Ta DA!" Lake Blue sang, gesturing to the polar bear puffle.

Herbert lifted his head up, gave one look at the puffle, then grumbled and face planted back into his pillow.

"C'mon dude, isn't th-"

"Wait! Was that a polar beat puffle?!" Herbert suddenly shouted, scaring Lake Blue slightly, who jumped.

"Yep! His name's Mr Kumakimchi." Mattie smiled.

"Woah!" Herbert stared at it in disbelief.

"Who are you?" The puffle asked.

"I'm Herbert. I'm a polar bear!" He said proudly.

"No you're not."

Herbert glared at it. "Yes, I am."

"No you're not. It's hard to tell who you are, you should try to act more like a polar bear." It continued in its high pitched voice.

Herbert ignored it and turned to the agents. "See? I'm so awesome that even puffles are copying my sense in fashion!" He declared smugly.

"Haha, sure. No one would ever copy your style." Moonhunter scoffed.

"Whatever. That Mr Cuckoo Clock is proof!" He rolled his eyes.

"It's Mr 'Kumakimchi'." Mattie corrected.

"I don't care! Same difference! Now get out of my face." He demanded.

"Wow, rude much?" Moonhunter rolled her eyes as they turned towards the door.

"It's Herbert, what do you expect? He ruins everything." Mewcat chuckled.

"HEY!"

...

"Who are you?"

* * *

**XD Yaay for Polar Bear Puffles! I want one u **

**By the way, just curious, do any of you read the Recap? :3**

**Anyway, I sincerely hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and thank you very much for reading! Until we meet again, I wish you an excellent day! :D**


	6. Hairgel and Dress Up

**Aaah! I haven't updated in so long! DX **

**But in recent news, I've started high school :D It's one of the best in NYC, and I'm actually getting less work than I thought, surprisingly. Not that I'm complaining :3 High school is awesome so far! How have your school days been? :D**

**AgentCatherine: It depends on the polar bear puffle. I mean, I wouldn't want a Herbert puffle XD He's too ugly to be a puffle anyway, so I think we're safe XD**

**Guest (aka Jessie9095 ;D): XD I I imagine polar bear puffles should be like Kumajirou Puffle, so I hope he's not as fat and ugly as Herbert XD **

**BlytheLPSGirl2012: OMG That is absolutely genius! You should totally make a full version of that song and post it on Fanfiction! That's really awesome! :D**

**Thank you for your reviews! And now its time for Le recap time! most chapter in a nutshell: Polar Bear Puffles, esquire XD Mattie found himself a polar bear puffle named Mr. Kumakimchi, and he's ADORABLE x3 Herbert's jealous though, but who cares about him? XD Enjoy the chapter! **

* * *

Herbert awoke to the sun in his eyes. Blinking slowly, he rubbed his eyes and looked up at the 'sun', the usual white lightbulb was now a yellow color.

Slowly sitting up, he yawned and stretched before sluggishly trudging over to his orange jumpsuit, which lay neatly on the metal box. Reaching over, he picked up the orange fabric before sensing something wrong.

It was too... Quiet.

He looked around him. The bed sheets lay crumpled, half on the bed and half on the floor. The hole that Klutzy used was still there, mocking his existence.

Then it clicked.

Luden wasn't there. In fact, nobody was.

No one was there to scream at him. No one was there to annoy him. He actually had peace for once.

And he just HAD to ruin it by waking up anyway.

"What day is it today?" He mumbled, plopping back down on his bed and closing his eyes.

"Interview day, duh."

He shot up, eyes flying open to glare at penguin who just ruined his peace.

The brown penguin glared back with equal ferocity. "What are you glaring at me for? Do you want to go to your interview or not?"

Herbert growled, but hauled himself up nonetheless.

"Okay, Lake Blue said for you to make yourself look neat and tidy and everything, and if you need help doing your hair, fur, whatever, you can ask Fries to help you." Moonhunter dully listed, tapping her foot before striding out the room.

Herbert glared at the door and growled, but quickly turned back to his room and noticed something important.

"I don't have any clothes!" He blurted out, calling after the penguin.

"Ohonhonhon~, did someone say clothes?" An annoyingly familiar voice echoed through the room. Fries gracefully slid into the room, his cloak billowing behind him and his long hair swaying in a way that Herbert deemed as annoyingly obnoxious and way too flamboyant for his taste. His overuse of perfume and cologne also further irritated him.

"Don't tell me you are Fries..." He growled, already disliking the blue penguin.

"The one and only fabulous Fries!" He announced, procuring a rose and winking.

Herbert plopped back down on his bed and groaned. "Just leave me alone..." He grumbled, muffling his face with the fluffy white pillow.

"But then you'll look too ugly, and that would be the death of me!" He protested, then smiled as he dragged a closet behind him.

"Voila!" He declared, opening the door with a flourish.

Herbert was greeted with a million different suits and ties, all bright and vibrant in color. How did so many clothes even fit in the one closet? The world may never know.

"So, what color would you prefer? Maybe a shade of tantalising red, or perhaps a hue of gloomy blue? That seems to suit you, Ohonhonhon~" The blue penguin laughed, admiring himself in the mirror.

"Whatever. A black suit or whatever." Herbert mumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Oh. Would you like a jet black, onyx black, licorice black, raven black, smoky black, or ebony black?" He questioned, holding up the suits in their corresponding color.

"Is there a difference?! They look exactly the same to me!" Herbert groaned exasperatedly.

Fries gasped. "Mon Dieu no! Ebony has a little green and grey, licorice is a little reddish brown, and smoky black has a little dark brown! Don't you see a difference?"

Herbert squinted at the three suits held before him before shaking his head. "Nope."

"You really are tasteless, like that Artie." He muttered under his breath.

"Hey! I heard that you wanker!" Artie's voice yelled indignantly as he waddled past the room.

"Anyway, I think this nice onyx would suit you, non?" He smiled, holding up the suit in front of Herbert and eyeing the combination. Then he beamed and clapped his flippers in delight. "Oui! You will wear this one!" He declared, gracefully sliding the hanger on the rack beside him.

"Next," he announced, turning towards the dress shirts, "Your shirt."

"I have to wear a shirt?!" Herbert gaped at the rows of neatly folded, wrinkle-free dress shirts.

"Of course! What kind of question is that?!" Fries exclaimed, clutching his forehead in emphasis. "You really are hopeless..."

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with what I usually wear!" Herbert protested indignantly.

"Just like Artie..."

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing." He smiled. "Now, I think a nice blue would make you pretty as a princess, oui?"

"But I don't wanna be a princess..." Herbert protested, pouting slightly.

"There's nothing wrong with it. Now, what do you think of this pretty Columbia blue?" He smiled, holding up the dress shirt in question.

"Sure, sure, whatever." He rolled his eyes.

"Bien!" Fries beamed, striding to the next part of the closet. "Now, onto the ties!"

_Oh boy..._, Herbert thought.

* * *

"Voila! You look beautiful, non?" Fries announced with a flourish.

"That took way too long..." Herbert grumbled, staring at himself in the long mirror. He tried to loosen his dark blue tie, only to be stopped by Fries, who was about to let out another rant about how he'll be ugly if he does that.

"Hmm, not bad, considering it's Herbert we're talking about." Mewcat chuckled.

"Nice job, Fries. Love the blue." Lake Blue grinned.

"Yeah, thats because you're Lake BLUE!" Jessie giggled.

"That joke again?" She rolled her eyes and chuckled.

"Alright, you guys are heading out, right?" Moonhunter asked, checking her list.

"Yep! Alfie, Gils, come on out!" Mewcat nodded, turning to the door.

"I'm here! What did the hero miss?" Alfie bounded into the room moments later, all grinning and excited that one may have seen sparkles radiating off him.

"Don't forget ze awesome ME!" Gils smirked, waddling into the room with a grand flourish.

"Hey guys!" Jessie cheered.

"You guys sure are excited." Lake Blue greeted. "Moonhunter is going too, right?"

"I am?"

"Yeah, I think we should have one more penguin. We'll be fine over here." Jessie explained with a smile.

"Aw yeah! Does this mean we get burgers?" Alfie cheered, fist pumping the air.

"No, what makes you think that?" Moonhunter frowned.

"Aww, we won't get burgers?" Alfie pouted, looking at them with sad eyes.

"I mean, you can get burgers if you want..." Mewcat began.

"YES! I need a fish burger right now! Peace bros!" He whooped, then raced out the door, leaving a few very confused agents.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"So... Does this mean we're leaving now?" Mewcat asked.

"Sure, why not? You all ready?" Jessie asked with a smile. "That was kind of weird though." She chuckled.

"..."

"You okay Fries? What's wrong?" Lake Blue questioned, seeing as the aforementioned penguin seemed to be staring in space.

"..."

"Do you-"

"MON DIEU!" The blue penguin suddenly yelled, rushing towards Herbert, who jumped in surprise. "How did I not notice it sooner! It is so ugly it's burning my eyes!"

"What are you talking about? I look fine!" Herbert protested as his fur was once again ruffled and smoothed out and ruffled again by the designer penguin.

"Non, your fur likes to stick up too much, we need to use gel to keep it down." He argued, flattening his fluffy white fur.

"Did somebody say Hairgel?" A familiar voice piped up.

All eyes turned to the orange penguin staring back at them with bright eyes and an eager smile at the doorway.

All was silent until...

"JADE!" Lake Blue and Jessie squealed, bounding towards him.

"Long time no see! How's life been?" Lake Blue beamed.

"Pretty good. I'm working on a hairgel company as well as training to be a football player." He shrugged.

"So, no offence, but why do you look a little fatter?" Mewcat questioned with a raised brow.

"I've been eating a lot. Football players are fat, so I need to be fat if I want to be a football player." Jade smiled.

"Ahh, this brings back memories from Geometry." Jessie sighed.

"But do you need hairgel? I have a few samples you can use." Jade asked, holding out a few bright bottles.

Gils stepped forward to take the bottles. "The Jade Company? How unawesomely unoriginal."

Jade frowned. "It's perfectly original because I came up with it!"

"Wait..." Moonhunter paused, thinking, "Wait! How did you get in here?!" She pointed a flipper at Jade.

He shrugged. "I don't know, I think I came in from the door..."

"Ahh, this is perfect!" Fries exclaimed, examining the bright blue bottle of Hairgel. "Although, are you sure it doesn't have any side effects?"

"Of course! Why?" Jade said proudly.

"I don't know, maybe it's this clear label on it saying '_WARNING: This bottle of Hairgel might cause your hair to set on fire, get eaten by unicorns, and/or possibly kill you, and I am not liable (HAH, I used a big word!) for any damage done to your hair, because my hair is always the best._'!" Moonhunter exclaimed exasperatedly, gesturing to the neon yellow tag.

"Oh. That." Jade nodded. "I don't know, I tested it on Greenbat's puffle, since I'm too broke to get my own, and his hair set on fire. I mean, I'm sure it wasn't my fault and stuff, but yeah."

"So are you sure this is safe to use on Herbert?" Mewcat asked skeptically.

"HA! Why don't we give it a try? See whether zat unawesome bear would get set on fire or whether the Hairgel will set on fire because he's too ugly!" Gils smirked, challenging the polar bear.

"I am not ugly! And I will use this Hairgel to prove it!" Herbert retorted, grabbing the gel out of Fries's flippers and messily rubbing it on his fur.

"No no no!" Fries exclaimed, pushing his arms out of the way. "You must apply it properly!" He then proceeded to neatly comb the blue gel into the white fur, effectively gluing the loose strands down.

"There! Perfect!" He declared, rubbing his flippers on a towel, which he then threw on the table. "Now go, before you miss your boat!"

"Alright, alright. Ready everyone?" Mewcat questioned.

"Yup."

"Zhe awesome me is always ready!"

"This Hairgel feels weird..."

"Cool! Good luck on your interview!" Lake Blue called as the group teleported to the Dock in a blue whizz.

"Well, there goes that." Lake Blue sighed, plopping down in a chair.

"Hopefully we won't get too much trouble." Jessie agreed.

"U-Umm, guys?" A soft voice called from the doorway. They turned to see Mattie and his polar bear puffle.

"What's up?" Lake Blue asked curiously with a smile.

"Please come quickly. We have some trouble down in the main room."

"We totally just jinxed it." Lake Blue and Jessie muttered as they followed Mattie out into the hallways.

* * *

**Hooray! Surprise appearance by none other than Jade! :D**

**Do I need to translate what Fries said? O.o**

**Mon Dieu: My God (French) **

**Non: No (French) **

**Oui: Yes (French)**

**Bien: Good (French)**

**Anyway, hope you thoroughly enjoyed reading this chapter! I sure had fun writing this! Hopefully I don't forget my genius idea for the next chapter... O.o **

**That's all for today! Thank you so much for reading, and I wish you all a great day! :D**


	7. The Red White and Blue Disease D:

**HIIII! :D **

**How's everyone doing on this lovely day? Actually it's pretty cold here in NYC so it's not what I would call lovely, but it's the optimism that counts! XD How is everyone's school work? Hopefully the workload isn't too much for everyone! **

**Rosa Blythe: Nope, but something in the future chapters will involve Jade. Good guesswork! :D And I asked Jessie about the Hairgel question... I don't believe Jade gave up Hairgel (thankfully XD)**

**TheSunnyPenguinPony: OMG I just realised that! :O That would be CRAZY XD **

**Jessie9095: Remember that Jade follows Jade logic :D He's learning PEMDAS in Geometry, so Jade logic will be a liiiiiittle... Different. Just a little. XD**

**Isa Kitty: OMG The Mako Chop XD I googled it, it looks hilarious XD And anime characters all tend to have similar personalities, don't they?**

**AgentCatherine: XD Flammable Hairgel. I'm totally including that XD Looking for ways to embarrass Herbert to the max during his interview XD**

**Thank you all for reviewing once again! Last time we met- wait... Oh right! I forgot: LETS RECAP! :D Previously, Herbert gets bossed around by Fries, who makes Herbert look like a boss (and a school teacher... I drew him in his outfit... He looks like a teacher...). And we end off where Mattie tells us that some big emergency happened! Oh Nooo! D:**

**Enjoy the chapter! :D**

* * *

Jessie, Lake Blue, and Mattie rushed into the main command room, nearly crashing into Feli, who was running around the room and screaming like a chicken with his head cut off. Barely missing the cloud of papers stirred up by Feli's whirlwind, they hurried towards Luden, who seemed to be having a panic attack.

"Luden! What's wrong?" Lake Blue called, trying to calm down both him and Feli.

He pointed to the main screen, which was flashing red before going static. "We have an intruder in the mainframe!"

Jessie exchanged glances with Lake Blue before waddling up the large screen and tapped a few keys.

Immediately, a familiar red screen popped up with the EPF logo and the words "System Defender" underneath.

She turned around and smiled at the agape Luden. "That was just a simulation. We have a lot of simulations in case of an attack from Herbert. He likes to use a lot of different tactics." She explained. "What you saw just then was the 'mission failed' screen."

"So it wasn't real?" Luden asked in disbelief.

"Nope." Lake Blue smiled, patting him on the shoulder. "It's okay, we're glad you're staying alert for problems. Just try to handle things a little more calmly next time, alright?"

Luden grimly nodded, before he was interrupted by a loud thud. All eyes turned to see Feli, who had crashed into the closet, effectively knocking it over. Papers and folders flew up into the air as the agents rushed over to help him.

"Feli! You alright?" Lake Blue asked as she pulled the dazed penguin to his feet.

"I think so... My head hurts." He commented, gently touching his head and wincing.

"You must have hit your head pretty hard, huh?" Jessie noted, grabbing the first aid kit from the wall and waddling over. Mattie began to pick up all the papers and placing them back on the desk.

"Waaaaahhhh! It huuuuurrrts!" Feli whined as Jessie applied an ice pack to his head.

"Ice is supposed to help with the bruising, right Lake?" Jessie asked, sending a glance back at the peach penguin.

"Mewcat knows this better than me, but I think so..." She trailed off, looking up in thought, "Yeah, ice should help."

"But it hurts!"

"Just shut up Feli!" Luden growled.

Lake Blue glared at him. "Hey! Don't be so mean!"

"I wonder how Herbert's doing..." Jessie thought aloud, smiling slightly.

* * *

"Remind zhe awesome me why we're helping zhe unawesome you again?" Gils asked in a bored tone as he watched the waves go by.

"Because I'm awesome!" Herbert huffed proudly.

"Yeah yeah, whatever bro. Everyone knows I'm the hero!" Alfie cheered, fist-pumping the air.

"Nuh uh, I'm zhe awesomest penguin alive!" Gils retorted, rolling his eyes.

"You are nothing like the awesomest-"

"Would you three shut up?!" Moonhunter barked, slapping Herbert's face.

"OW! HEY! You just ruined my face! I'm telling Fries!" Herbert complained.

"He's not here, is he?" Moonhunter shot back.

"Guys, I'm trying to concentrate here!" Mewcat whined, steering the speedboat with her flippers.

"Are we there yet?" Herbert whined back.

"How should zhe awesome me know?" Gils retorted.

"I wasn't talking to you, idiot!"

"Hey! I'm not zhe idiot! You're zhe unawesome albino wannabe idiot!"

"I'm hungry! Get me some food!" Herbert complained, his stomach rumbling.

"We don't have food, you'll have to wait until we get to the island." Mewcat explained.

"But I'm hungry! This is all your fault, stupid albino!"

"How is zhat MY fault?! You're zhe one who's unawesome here!"

"Dudes! Shut up! I'm trying to eat a fishburger!" Alfie yelled before chomping down on his burger.

Everyone paused to stare at him while he was scarfing down his burger in a few large bites. "Whafft?" He asked with a full beak, before grabbing a cup of soda and gulping it down.

"Where did you get that?" Moonhunter questioned.

"I bought it from the store, duh." Alfie grinned.

"No, I mean, when?"

"He went out to buy burgers before we left, remember?" Mewcat reminded, steering them away from a group of ducks in the water.

"Oi! Gimme something to eat that's not meat! I'm so hungry I could eat a penguin!" Herbert complained.

Everyone went silent as they nervously shuffled away from the polar bear, exchanging glances with one another.

"What? Did I say something?" Herbert questioned with a puzzled frown, but the others just ignored him as they busied themselves.

Alfie passed a paper bag of food over to him while singing, "Hastag Awkwaaaaaard!"

Herbert scowled at him before opening his bag and pulling out the food inside. Opening the box, he mentally smiled when he saw a seaweed burger. Opening his mouth wide, he brought the burger closer and closer until...

"LOOK OUT!" Mewcat shouted, sharply turning the boat to avoid a group of ducks. Everyone yelped and Herbert's burger flew back onto his face before bouncing off his head and landing in the streams of white trailing behind them.

"Phew! That was close! Sorry everyone!" Mewcat apologised before returning her sight to the front.

"My burger!" Herbert cried, staring at the floating bun on the water behind him.

"Oh grow up, it's just a burger." Moonhunter retorted.

"HA, is it just zhe awesome me, or is zhe unawesome polar bear changing colors?" Gils smirked.

"What do you mean dude? He's not- OMG HE'S BLUE WHITE AND RED THAT IS SO COOL!" Alfie yelled and cheered, flailing his flippers in the air.

"Wait, why is your fur changing colour?!" Moonhunter exclaimed, bolting upright.

"It is?!" Herbert asked, checking his fur, and then gasping. "It IS! Aaaaaaahhhhhh! Help me help me! What do I do?!" He flailed his arms, jumping around the boat, causing it to sway and teeter.

"Herbert, SIT DOWN!" Mewcat yelled, trying to regain control of the boat.

Herbert paused, took a deep breath, then continued to scream. "I've caught the red white and blue disease! Aaaaaaaah!"

* * *

"Well, whatever it is, it's probably not good." Lake Blue laughed, neatly piling up the stack of papers and placing them in the cabinet.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no oh no oh no oh no!" A frantic voice echoed from upstairs. Lake Blue and Jessie exchanged knowing glances. Something was up... AGAIN. So they took off up the stairs towards the voice.

"What happened to his face?" Rodelstein's voice was heard in the hallways as they waddled into the offices.

"You guys alright?" Lake Blue called as she stepped into the doorway. Tori, Rodelstein, Yang, and Evane were standing in the centre of the room, staring at Fries, who was lying on the bed. But that wasn't their main concern...

"You're finally here! This is so weird! Fries has some kind of weird feather disease!" Yang explained hastily, casting wary glances at Evane, who was smiling for no obvious reason.

"Ugh! Where's the medic when we need her!" Jessie sighed, walking up to the blue penguin, who now had splotches of orange and purple feathers.

"What kind of disease is that? I've never seen anything like that before..." Lake Blue murmured, typing on the computer in the room. "They don't seem to have anything on this symptom either. Weird."

Slowly, Fries began to wake up, softly blinking his eyes, and letting out a yawn. "Ahh, that was a good sleep." He smiled, before noticing everyone in the room. "Hmm? Why is everyone here? Were you all admiring my beauty?" He smiled, getting up and waddling towards the floor length mirror attached to his door.

"Umm, Fries-" Jessie began, before being interrupted by a loud shriek from the penguin.

"MON DIEU WHAT HAPPENED TO MOI?!" He shrieked, flailing his flippers and jumping back from his reflection. Harshly spinning around, he glared accusingly at everyone. "What did you do to my pretty feathers?!"

"We didn't do anything! When we came in we just found you like that!" Tori quickly explained, hiding behind Jessie.

"Oh my feathers, my poor, pretty feathers..." Fries cried, falling to his knees and observing his 'ugly' feathers in the mirror.

"Hey, it's okay. It'll disappear eventually, right?" Lake Blue assured, patting him on the back.

"I'm not so sure. If it's a feather disease, then it probably won't disappear until we seek medical treatment." Yang pointed out.

"So what we do? He looks horrendous." Rodelstein pointed out, examining his flippers.

"Oi! Don't be so mean!" Lake Blue scolded, smacking him in the shoulder.

"Ow! You didn't have to hit me!" Rodelstein scoffed in a high voice, rubbing his shoulder.

"I didn't even hit you that hard!" Lake Blue protested.

"It's nothing compared to what I can do." Evane cheerfully noted, placing a flipper on Yang and Tori's shoulders, who both shuddered slightly in response.

"Now the big question is: How did he get that disease?" Jessie pointed out, changing the topic for the two penguins' sakes.

"I honestly have no idea... Hey, I wonder where Artie is... He's usually causing a huge ruckus by now." Lake Blue mused, eyes trailing to the doorway.

"You go find him. Let's get Fries to the medical room and call the doctor." Jessie suggested, taking a step to the door.

Lake Blue nodded and bounded out the door and down the hall, while Rodelstein was ordered by Jessie to help Fries to the medical room, much to the purple penguin's dismay and reluctance.

Running by the rows of empty offices, Lake Blue thought about their former leads._ I don't even know where they are at this point..._, she thought, hopping down the stairs, stopping before she collided with the wall. _I really hope they're okay, and that Klutzy's not plotting against them or something. I also kind of hope that Herbert's alright, since he's with the others. And wow, I'm getting a headache from all this..._

"Woah!" She yelped, tripping over her feet and falling down the rest of the stairs. Rubbing her beak, she sat up and glared at the staircase. One of the steps was slightly higher than the rest, which made it look both ugly and dangerous. _Mental note_, she thought, _fix that step, or else I'll go crazy thinking about it... Yeah, Moonhunter's right, I'm kinda OCD... Nothing wrong with it though, I don't think. Woah! Don't trip over-_

"Oof!" The peach penguin flew through the air, landing a metre away from the something, or rather someone, that she tripped over.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Artie exclaimed, rushing to help her up. Lake Blue nodded and waved it away, indicating she was alright. But the green penguin seemed a little... Off. There were slight discolourations in his feathers, like blue and purple splotches of color. It was almost like-

"Are you feeling alright? You look a bit weird, pardon me." Artie asked concernedly, leading her to the bench in the hallway.

"I look weird?" Lake Blue questioned, taking the opportunity to observe her feathers.

She gasped.

* * *

**I just noticed that I always end with some form of emergency... *face-flipper* It's getting so cliche DX**

**But YUSH, 7 chapters in, and we still haven't reached the interview yet... Isn't that fun? XD**

**Anywho, that's all for today. I sincerely hope you liked this chapter, and please leave any suggestions or feedback you have :) Thank you so much for reading, and I wish you all a great day! :)**

**EDIT: OMG. I just realized... To answer Mewcat's review, no this was not intentionally supposed to be an Ebola joke. I'm sorry if you interpreted this as such. Ebola is VERY serious, and this was not meant to be a reference to it in any way! I'll explain everything in the next chapter, sorry if you found this offensive! D:**


End file.
